It is in a space of doubt and in the midst of an extraordinary social and health crisis that I encountered the idea that « in the hostile environment, respectability will not save you » (Whittle, 2020). In March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced, the economy crashing, and increased power given to the police forces in France, I felt embedded in an anxiety and fear that I could not fully grasp yet. Perhaps too quickly, social media became my way of connecting to the world - a world that became every day more unbearable to see in action. Police violence ceased to surprise while reactions after the death of countless black and brown lives in the hands of those meant to protect us seemed performative and desensitized to what we were witnessing. Seemingly to other people of color, I saw through these “fait divers” the loss of my uncles, disappearances of my aunts, killing of my grandparents and an urge to return to my home country invaded every inch of my body. In this never-ending cycle of violence, emphasized by a second lockdown and rising social movements, RESET by Alberta Whittle appeared like a much-needed invitation to consciously rest.
Watch RESET : https://www.frieze.com/artistaward
Performing as a catharsis, the moving-image piece let us in a day-dream tinted by gestures, carefully layered sound and collages of times and stories. From videos of performances to archives of protests, a continuous rhythm is maintained by textual breaks emphasizing natural vocals and landscapes. In this thirty minutes format is exposed the complexity and fragility of our social, ecological and political condition. The closeness of the camera on the female body, only human presence, carries both pain and solutions. The language of human nature is shifting from apparently intelligible syllables to feelings, pressure, touch, where the deconstructed unconscious can freely express itself. In the manner of a sorcerer, she introduces us to ourselves, examining our movements carefully in three lessons, in a ritual celebrating intimacy and pleasure.
As the times are overlapping and the anxiety increases, invading both our ears and eyes, the audience, invited to interact with every detail displayed can no longer ignore the movement of its own body. The change of pace that one's heart takes at every new variation and vibrations, both evolving faster and softer, holding you tight, the sound allows you to slowly dive into the deep mediation offered by the artist. Perhaps, the work presents an in-between time. In between memories, in between generations bruised by colonialism and capitalism, in between care and hatred, destruction and reparation. It's only after imagining the infinite possibilities of a future built on an apocalyptic present that we get a sense of letting go. Spirits returning to a tree, soil, playing with colored balls as a way to understand it, reuniting with nature and ancestors. Constantly clashing with this « hostile environment », each bell, each note, each layer guided me while the words plunged deeper in my soul as I, too, began my journey to healing.
Bibliography/Reference:
Title, by Whittle, Alberta.
https://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/mla8