Shot when the artist was 9 months pregnant, the video is a metaphor for the dualities of ecstasy and anxiety of living in a paradise for ground-zero sea-level rise. First, one sees a pregnant body floating above the surface as it slowly sinks below the water level. Then tower cranes emerge in the frame. These ubiquitous instruments on the South Florida urban landscape are the first objects erected on any construction site. Without a proper sustainability plan the city is being hastily developed, yet the stomach is a buoyant shelter; its round, soft shape suggests a place of safety in contrast to the rigidity of the machinery.
Bringing everything back to the body, the layered audio includes Wright’s breath, an experimental jazz composition by Jason Ajemian, and sounds from labor, which are used to create an intimate, life-affirming soundscape juxtaposed with angst. The sound dimension underscores the resilience of living as the breathing continues, almost as if it is possible underwater. The video’s silver and gold color palette ironically mimics the opulent surfaces of these newly built luxury condos. The global unconstrained urban development devoid of proper ecological sense of caution leads to this visual metaphor of simultaneous creation and destruction— it is an emblem of fecundity in times of erasure of the natural order.
Made possible with support from a WaveMaker grant from Locust Projects.
