Body of Water (2018) - Annie Crabtree

Body of Water

2018

Digital video

Single channel moving image with voice over and captions

18 minutes

Body of Water focuses on tandem lines of inquiry. The (mis)representations and (lack of) acknowledgement of womxn's pain and the accompanying violations of bodily integrity and self-determination by both medical professionals, social norms and cultural representations. The reclaiming of power through swimming and the culturally associated therapeutic qualities of water. I turn the lens upon myself to examine these themes by utilising the affective sensory qualities of video.

Commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival with support from the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund, The Idlewild Trust and Museums & Galleries Edinburgh.

Captions by Collective Text / Emilia Beatriz.

Consultation by Edward Scoble.

Collective Text on captioning Body of Water:

How to describe the sensation/sound of the pressure of water on the submerged body? Working in conversation with the artist, the captions reflect the film’s voiceover which challenges the medical industrial complex and centres womxn’s experiences of pain and how cultural and scientific narratives of illness affect and are inscribed on bodies, accompanied by a chlorinated- and salt-watery soundtrack.