The Mermaids, Mirror Worlds

Two-channel installation, 2018, 34’50’’

Film Still, Mermaids, Mirror Worlds, 2018.

In a two channel version version of their award-winning film, Mermaids, or Aiden in Wonderland Mermaids, Mirror Worlds flips between a the fictional account of a toxic ravaged world in MAW and nonfictional promotional material from industrial giants such as Monsanto and the Dow Chemical Corporation. As wild claims are made about the healthy, safe and protective practices of multinational capitalization of nature proliferate, viewers are asked, which view of our differentiated futures holds a stronger truth.

“Mermaids, mud and the nightmare of colonialism and environmental destruction get swirled into a toxic soup. The mirroring extends beyond the frame of the film, though. We’ve entered a precarious state for our species — and planet. We can see with every hurricane or political or economic crisis that the world has entered permanent glitch mode. Indigenous Australians are in that sense the avant-garde of our species. The Karrabing Collective and the “Mermaids” films convey that knowledge and experience with a quiet and sure confidence, showing us how their violently altered world has become our world too.” Martha Schwendener, May 15, 2019, New York Times.

Premiere:
Mermaids, Mirror Worlds—Van Abbemuseum, Frontier Imaginaries, curated by Vivian Ziherl, with support from Publics, Helsinki, and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Mermaids, Aiden in Wonderland—Melbourne International Film Festival

Links and info:
Review at Visual Arts Hub