Between the barriers, 2026
Video, Edition of 6
227 seconds
Artist’s Statement
Between the Barriers is a video art piece that follows themes of intimacy and the body. The piece shows various close-ups of intimate skin-to-skin contact between partners. The contact is soft, tender and personal. The bodies are shown close-up to emphasise the contact made between each person. The partners’ bodies become less definable, leaving one unsure of the body’s race or gender.
The touch begins to be interrupted by various sheer materials such as fabric, cellophane, and plastic. The materials intrude gradually at first and culminate in disruptions that prevent the intimate touch entirely, in the forms of glass and Perspex. These barriers become physical representations of insecurity, shame, hesitation, and social taboos regarding the body, purity, and queer intimacy. The intrusions comment on how exterior expectations and social pressures can become imposing forces within even the most personal moments.
The piece follows a narrative pace as the bodies and touch itself becomes increasingly restricted before transitioning into the act of getting dressed. This plays out the outcomes of these taboos and shame; the end or restriction of intimacy.
The audio, comprised of soft pillow talk, laughing, breathing, and harder sounds of the material boundaries, echoes the rise and fall of the tension of the piece.
The piece is displayed as a single-channel projection that depicts boundaries and taboos by dividing the screen. The line becomes an additional barrier between the two screens, and thus, the those involved in the intimacy.
Video Stills
