Cauleen Smith: H-E-L-L-O and Crow Requiem
Cauleen Smith, Crow Requiem, 2016, HD film still, Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
Cauleen Smith, Crow Requiem, 2016, HD film still, Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
Cauleen Smith, Crow Requiem, 2016, HD film still, Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
Cauleen Smith, H-E-L-L-O, 2014, HD film still, Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
Cauleen Smith, H-E-L-L-O, 2014, HD film still, Courtesy of the Artist and Corbett vs. Dempsey
Two of Cauleen Smith’s digital videos are screening on a loop in the Multipurpose Hall, March 28 through May 7 and June 6–29.
Cauleen Smith (b. 1967, US) is among the most exciting and visionary artists working today. Active as a filmmaker since the early 1990s, she has created an extraordinary body of moving image work that includes over forty shorts and the 1998 acclaimed independent feature Drylongso. Stylistically rooted in experimental film, Smith’s work is visually striking while raising challenging questions around identity, power, and the potential for social change. Beyond filmmaking, Smith is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist whose award-winning work has been featured in many major exhibitions around the world.
This program presents a pair of single channel videos completed in 2014 and 2016 that show two captivating sides of this multifaceted artist. H-E-L-L-O (Cauleen Smith, US 2014, 11 minutes, HD digital) is a mesmerizing work that connects the 1977 U.F.O. film directed by Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the rapidly shifting character of New Orleans in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Shot in several iconic locations, the glorious history of the city as a bastion of Black culture can be seen vanishing behind a procession of musicians who interpret and repeat the science fiction film’s familiar five-note greeting to alien life.
Crow Requiem (Cauleen Smith, US 2016, 11 minutes, HD digital) was originally made for Light Work’s Urban Video Project in Syracuse, NY. The video weaves aspects of Black history in the central New York State region with evocative imagery of wild crows and two protagonists: Jane Crow-Alpha and Jane Crow-Omega. Set to a soundtrack that includes songs by blues masters John Lee Hooker and Lightnin’ Hopkins, Smith’s video compares the struggles of African Americans with the persecution of the highly intelligent, yet frequently maligned birds while making connections to stereoscopy, Auburn Prison, and the home of Harriet Tubman.