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Sophie Shely
[she/her, USA]
As Empty as Mirrors
Video and performance, 2023
[EN]Sophie Shely [she/her, Portland, Oregon, 1998] utilizes audio and video to explore the ephemerality of viscerally complex states brought about by tumultuous relationships or experiences. She takes interest in solidifying the intangible nature of vulnerability, fear, and mourning through the use of equally intangible mediums. Based in Portland, Oregon, Sophie holds a Bachelor of Music in Electronic Production and Design from Berklee College of Music.
[IT]Sophie Shely [ella/lei, Portland, Oregon, 1998] utilizza audio e video per esplorare l'effimero di stati visceralmente complessi causati da relazioni o esperienze tumultuose. Si interessa a consolidare la natura intangibile della vulnerabilità, della paura e del lutto attraverso l'uso di mezzi altrettanto intangibili. Con sede a Portland, Oregon, Sophie ha conseguito un Bachelor of Music in Electronic Production and Design presso il Berklee College of Music.
[EN]As Empty as Mirrors describes a single event as it hovers above the boundary between the real and the illusory. A lone subject rinses and combs her hair with her hands in a dark, empty space, visible only with the beam of a flashlight. The accompanying video shows the same sequence from an alternative perspective, a hallucinatory event superimposed on the real.
Philosopher Julia Kristeva describes the abject event as one in which a repulsive other appears so familiar that its proximity to the subject provokes an overwhelming sense of disturbing ambiguity, dissolving the boundary between self and other. Inspired in part by her writings, this combination of video and performance creates the unsettling impression that there is at once someone in the light, something in the dark, and nothing at all.
»They may well try to find each other; they will never find anything but parodic images, and they will fall asleep as empty as mirrors.« — Georges Bataille, The Solar Anus
[IT]As Empty as Mirrors raffigura un soggetto che si risciacqua i capelli da due prospettive alternate, in bilico tra il reale e l’illusorio.
Ispirata in parte dagli scritti di Julia Kristeva sull’abiezione, questa combinazione di video e performance crea l’inquietante impressione che ci sia la presenza di qualcuno nella luce e di qualcosa nell’oscurità, ma allo stesso tempo che non ci sia nulla di tutto questo.
»Potrebbero benissimo cercare di trovarsi l’un l’altro; non troveranno mai altro che immagini parodistiche e si addormenteranno vuoti come specchi.« — Georges Bataille, L’Ano Solare
