Ghislan Sutherland-Timm

black orpheus (ii.)

Influenced by Marcel Camus 1959 film “Orfeu Negro” (also known as “Black Orpheus”), “black orpheus (ii.)” centres its narrative around the rhythm of sound and dance within the film using obstructive and “incomplete” materials and methods of documentation.

“In exploring cinema’s tactility, my work was prompted by the 1959 film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) directed by French filmmaker Marcel Camus (1912-1982). Black Orpheus resurrects the ancient Greek mythology of two lovers, Eurydice and Orpheus, in amidst of the rhythmic and joyful festivities of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil juxtaposing the tragic and soulful fate of the blooming lovers. Centering black and Latinx performers and cultures with Greek mythology, I was captivated by the film and inspired to produce works which reflect body and movement, as throughout the film, nothing and no one stood quite still. In creating incomplete complete works, each partially made human figure (Eurydice and Orpheus) mirrors an assemblage of their identity and reflects fragments of being complete for each other.”