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Recently the CIA assured us that the destroyed videotapes of hundreds
of hours of the interrogations of two detainees in 2002 no longer had intelligence value and that their destruction was nothing but standard procedure to protect the identities of the interrogators. They claim that there is no need for the tapes since the agency determined that their documentary reporting was “full and exacting,” and the crucial information they produced was “accurate and complete.” We’re just going to have to take their word for it. It comes as no surprise that I would tune in and closely follow the reports on this issue. |
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Maria Dumlao will be performing at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on May 18.
Maria Dumlao, The Go Show [Goin’ Churchin’: Relevant Dada]. Video, 120 min. Courtesy of the artist.Recently the CIA assured us that the destroyed videotapes of hundreds of hours of the interrogations of two detainees in 2002 no longer had intelligence value and that their destruction was nothing but standard procedure to protect the identities of the interrogators. They claim that there is no need for the tapes since the agency determined that their documentary reporting was “full and exacting,” and the crucial information they produced was “accurate and complete.” We’re just going to have to take their word for it.
It comes as no surprise that I would tune in and closely follow the reports on this issue. Not only is there an obvious concealment of hours of grueling activities, but there is also the insistence of absolute truth. Furthermore, the act of purposefully destroying these videotapes is a literal act of killing the surrogate eyewitness. The event that once was, is erased and no one (nothing) who (that) saw anything with their (its) own eyes will ever testify. It’s an effective way to construct a completely new story.
In my work, I often question the notion of “taking their word for it.” I explore the negative spaces, the places in between, part of, or around the presented images, spaces, places, and issues. I zoom into the periphery and center the margins. I trace the erased marks and record the hushed sounds. I dig for what falls into the cracks, and scratch what’s been whited out. I rewind to what happens before, and skip ahead to what happens after the frame.
My studio practice involves investigative marveling and drawing “what if” scenarios. Much of it involves long hours pouring over films, videos, texts, and other media from which I harvest images and material. I work in a variety of media, including photography, artist books, installation, performance, sound, and video. I use different media as a means to highlight interstitial moments, background sound, shadows, and overlooked details to bring marginalized content to the foreground.
Loom, a 40-minute video installation I made for Momenta Art’s exhibition, Silhouette, is made up of images from American horror and suspense films. The static images of empty architecture appear frozen or still, as if they are photographs. But the seemingly still images are not actually still. They are subtly interrupted by shadows indicating a human presence that is neither in nor out of the frame.
Collaborating with artists Elaine Kaufmann and Jane Johnston, I co-wrote, co-directed, and performed in the cable access television program, The Go Show. The Go Show brought together a variety show’s ever-changing cast of characters and situations with a subversive re-envisioning of mainstream American culture. Its absurd and subtle humor imagined entertainment as a realm of open-ended possibility where French feminist philosophy was as much an influence as Monty Python. Featured for two seasons in BCAT and MNN, The Go Show can now be accessed globally through YouTube.
This past year, I made a series of digital collages, Interrogation Mark, which involved gathering both violent images from the current war in Iraq, and pastoral images from various lifestyle magazines and books. In the tradition of collage, I digitally combined the images in a way that suggests the fact that dread, violence, and general pathos underpin popular images promoted in our culture. An animated video is in the works for Interrogation Mark.
I do not, by any means, decipher any of these things that I investigate. Not only am I an unqualified detective, I would completely fail at cracking any truths. If anything, I obstruct the evidence (my own findings,) appropriate what I find, and reconstruct a new narrative. Decoding is for experts. Perhaps you’re an expert? ïâ¬Âª
