2020 / 16' Dir. Janis Rafa Prod. Fondazione In Between Art Film
Inspired by the iconography of biblical paintings and Flemish still-lifes, LACERATE reflects on the subject of domestic and gender violence by portraying the extreme decision of a woman who turns from victim into executioner.
In a series of mises-en-scène shot only in natural light, we see a domestic setting overrun by a pack of dogs that roam around restlessly, attacking objects and furniture. The interior of this home is a mental space, violated and lacerated like a body that has undergone violence. Fruit, game, and remnants of food are arranged like still lifes, with allegorical elements evoking the precariousness of life and the loss of innocence. It is a suspended, hostile ecosystem, where the brutality suffered by other species is transferred by osmosis to human beings. In the vision imagined by the artist, the hunting hounds and other dogs—which were perhaps owned by the couple and witnessed the abusive relationship over the years—have come back like ghosts from the past. Historically symbols of loyalty to their master, the dogs here rebel and become the woman's guardians, supporting and protecting her in the process of liberation from her persecutor. It is thus the irrational, animalistic part of the unconscious that has been unleashed, allowing the woman to regain control over her life and save herself. Text courtesy of Leonardo Bigazzi.Lascerate was commissioned and produced by In Between Art Film for the project Mascarilla 19 – Codes of Domestic Violence. In the vision imagined by the artist, the hunting hounds and other dogs—which were perhaps owned by the couple and witnessed the abusive relationship over the years—have come back like ghosts from the past. Historically symbols of loyalty to their master, the dogs here rebel and become the woman's guardians, supporting and protecting her in the process of liberation from her persecutor. It is thus the irrational, animalistic part of the unconscious that has been unleashed, allowing the woman to regain control over her life and save herself.