Dissident Bodies / FOCUS: LAILA MAJID & LOUIS BLUE NEWBY

We asked cura­tor Sara Castelo Branco for a clo­ser look to the works of our cur­rent Exhibition Dissident Bodies:

South Florida Sky, 2022
HD film, 7′23″

Part 4 / LAILA MAJID & LOUIS BLUE NEWBY: Majid and Newby see the swamp as this mes­sy, powerful place whe­re ever­y­thing mixes and flows tog­e­ther. It’s a spot full of con­nec­tions and exch­an­ges, whe­re not­hing stays sepa­ra­te or fixed. The swamp real­ly shakes up the idea of a sta­ble, fixed identity—the kind of iden­ti­ty peo­p­le often put on a pedes­tal nowadays.

Using the famous DC Comics cha­rac­ter “Swamp Thing”, ori­gi­nal­ly crea­ted by Alan Moore – a kind of eco-super­he­ro who’s a cen­tu­ries-old plant car­ry­ing a man’s memo­ries and fee­lings – Majid and Newby tre­at “Swamp Thing” as a way to break down and rethink iden­ti­ty. They see the cha­rac­ter as a “ves­sel for disiden­ti­fi­ca­ti­on,” mea­ning it takes a well-known cul­tu­ral figu­re and recy­cles its mea­ning in a fresh way, ope­ning up space for que­er or mar­gi­na­li­zed iden­ti­ties to exist and be recognized.
The film was cap­tu­red using 16mm film and is yet digi­tal­ly produced.

© M. Moser / Laila Majid & Louis Blue Newby – South Florida Sky (2022)