Does resisting make us men ?...
3 channels video installation on a metal and iron structure representing the voodoo spirit Ogou Badagri
Dim. : 2M90 H x 3M L
In this video installation, I represent a social panorama with a rotating layering of video sequences. The video is played on a triad of screens forming a religious altarpiece. The design of this structure represents the warrior loa (voodoo spirit) Ogou Badagri properties, ie. iron, fire, resistance, and war.
The video triptych is composed of 3 synchronized films of 26'00 ”26. The 3 screens are mounted onto a structure made of wood and iron.
Bruno Lachapelle (LeRobot) composed the soundtrack for the installation. He added various sounds that I had previously recorded such as voodoo ceremonies or political discussions or market and street sounds in Port-au-Prince.
Does resisting make us men … ?
This question has a double meaning : Does resisting make us more masculine ? What about women or other minorities who suffer and resist for centuries without feeling more male? To answer this question we sometimes see in the video of the work a nude dancer who evolves with gracious movements.
The other side of the question would be this : in a country like Haiti which experience a succession of abuse of power by its leader and witch offers no service that could truly provide a well-being to the population, in a society that survives from day to day, that is left to itself in many ways and that knows suffering, resistance, fighting in all its forms, does resisting make us humans ?
The question remains open
First exhibition :
Mammon, Museum fine arts, Split, Croatia, June 26th - July 30th 2018.
Curator : Sasha Dees
Second exhibition :
Exhibition Resist at the French Institut of Cotonou for the exhibition Resist organized by Laboratorio art contemporain, November 2019.
Technical process:
Shooting, editing and special effects
For this installation, I used a Fujifilm X-H1 camera to achieve the slow motion I wanted. Some sequences were filmed in Haiti in the streets of Port-au-Prince and Jacmel during the carnival. The sequence with the dancer was filmed on the stage of a theater in Port-au-Prince.
We also see traveling in superimposed multilayers. To achieve this effect, I took pictures in panoramic mode on the camera. I shot while shaking the camera and turning it to take the panoramic photo, to create a pixilation effect and digital bugs. With the panoramic mode I got a high resolution photo which I then worked on After Effect to achieve the traveling motion effect.
This traveling effect is repeated several times on different photos, taken in China and Haiti, at different speeds and directions, (right to left and left to right) which produced the desired depth effect.
The very fast sequence was carried out with photos taken in Haiti and China. They are mirrored to create a hypnotic effect.
The video triptych is composed of 3 synchronized films of 25'50 ”. The editing of images is done in such a way that at times ⅓ of the image passes through each screen to compose one image or at other times there are 3 different images. A play between screens, symmetrical geometric shapes and the spectator's gaze is thus produced.
The 3 screens are mounted onto a structure made of wood and iron.
The design of this structure represents the warrior loa (voodoo spirit) Ogou Badagri.