One of Callas’ most personally confronting works, it is made up of six parts, and utilises the image of a knife slicing horizontally through the pictorial screen as its central and linking motif. Its starting point was an installation by Callas which incorporated a photograph from the 1920s of two severed heads belonging to a male and female of an indigenous tribe in Formosa (Taiwan). At once horrific and enigmatic, this image forms a potent metaphor for Japan’s pre-Second World War imperial past. The significance of the work is not confined to Japan alone - it also offers a kind of mirror with which to face atrocities committed in colonial Australia.
Produced with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission.
Notes by Rachel Kent, reprinted courtesy of the author and d/Lux Media Arts.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
B2001499
Audience classification
Mediatheque - not for children (ACMI classified)
Subject category
Digital Art
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Object Types
Artwork
Materials
Single channel moving image, colour and audio
Holdings
MOV file H264; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation