Bullet
2021 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
10:00 minutes (looped)
Maya Watanabe
Maya Watanabe’s video installation Bullet unfolds within the context of the Peruvian justice and forensic systems. During the Peruvian internal armed conflict that occured between the subversive group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the Peruvian military from 1980-2000, approximately 21,000 people, civilians, and guerilla fighters were killed. Most of the killings that were perpetrated by the military during this period of political upheaval were later deemed extrajudicial acts, and almost all of them were carried out with firearms. To evade any potential judicial proceeding against the military, the victims were hidden or disappeared to avoid their identification. Many remains have been found since the conflict, but have not been identified, pending under the status “N. N.”, meaning “No Name”. Resulting from a collaboration with the Peruvian Forensic Archaeologist team, Watanabe’s video documents one of the unclaimed bodies. Specifically, the video examines a bullet wound in the skull of an unidentified person killed by the Peruvian Armed Forces in 1986. The video is an indictment of these extrajudicial killings and a critique of the corruption and negligence that has led to so many unresolved cases. Bullet is an attempt to reconsitute the cultural and political significance of these erased murders, in the hopes that more cases will be solved so that the families and civilians affected by the conflict can mourn appropriately and see through the healing process.
Drawing on her background in theater design and direction, Maya Watanabe is known for her multi-channel video installations that explore the relationship between language, collectivity, identity, and space. Considering words, silences and the interweaving of the two, her videos are often slow, controlled, and cyclical in nature. Earlier works incorporate references and methodologies from cinematographic language, often involving one or several actors performing a script and interacting with the camera through choreographed movements. The texts narrated by the actors are either borrowed quotes from movies or modified poems and scripts, which become untethered when taken out of their original context. The ambiguity and lack of narrative that results reveals the imprecise nature of perception and the images and memories that we rely to construct identity. Recent works examine the landscape, exploring their tendency towards the fantastical and ability to conjure memories. With particular attention to the legacy and history of Peru, her work considers the fragmented, uprooted, and mutable past of a place, and how issues of historical instability can take centuries to resolve.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Subas Tamang
2018Study of History III by Subas Tamang is an etching and aquatint print based on photographs taken by German photographer Volkmar Wentzel in 1949...
© » HYPERALLERGIC
10 Art Books to Add to Your Shelf This December Skip to content Kareem Khubchandani's Decolonize Drag , Sonya Clark's newest catalogue, and more books we're reading this December (photo Lakshmi Rivera Amin/ Hyperallergic ) If you’re shamefully counting the titles you didn’t get around to reading this year, know that you are not alone...
© » KADIST
Victor & Sergiy Kochetov
1992Ukraine-Russia / Volleyball by Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov features a concrete monument of women volleyball players before the railway station in the village of Vodyanoye, Kharkiv region...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Flowing Reflections: “EARTH” at the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2018 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Bernie Ng Left: "EARTH", by Rudi Cole and Júlia Robert Parés, HumanHood (UK); Right: "Filled with sadness, the old body attacks" by Kim Jae Duk June 25, 2018 By Jocelyn Chng (960 words, 6-minute read) EARTH opens the 2018 edition of the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, the annual festival organised by T...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Podcast 82: Who's There & Two Songs and a Story | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Performance October 21, 2020 Nabilah Said, Matthew Lyon and Naeem Kapadia discuss Who’s There by The Transit Ensemble (Singapore/Malaysia/US); and Two Songs and a Story by Checkpoint Theatre...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Pandemic in the Philippines: A cultural sector on its own | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles August 17, 2020 By Katrina Stuart Santiago (2,200 words, 8-minute read) When I was first asked to write about “cultural leadership” in the Philippines, I turned up a blank...
© » KADIST
Meschac Gaba
2010The headdresses, woven from artificial hair braids, symbolize historical icons including Martin Luther King, Kwame Nkrumah, Fela Kuti and King Guézo of Dahomey...
© » ART & OBJECT
Valuable Paintings Found in Unusual Places | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...