The non-linear video narrative of Bait draws awkward parallels between environmental and sexual abuse of power through the watery eyes of freshly shucked ensemble of oysters on a plate. Bait’s core questions of accountability and responsibility are tackled through the investigation of the language of power that emulates solidarity and credibility, and the manners in which such conversations are held and voiced within a society.

The video is situated in a modular installation that ambiguously exists halfway between a bed and a cage; made of galvanised steel treated with acid, revealing stains and fingerprints. Flaccid latex rubber sheets are draped over the construction, stained and dripping with fluids.

Millais’ Pre-Raphaelite painting of Hamlet’s Ophelia is animated to life and claims her agency through lip-synching ‘Enough Is Enough’, the charged 1979 disco-duet between Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. She is supported by a singing ensemble of oysters that share their concerns on consent, allegorically hinting at their gendered, art historical and ecological connotations. Connecting all characters is the reference to water as an unifying element, exposing its undeniable sexual, biological, environmental interpretations. The rushing of water, waves and fuids intercut unexpectedly to literally food and overpower scenes.

Bait, 2018
Single channel video installation, 05:24min. looped Full HD monitor, set of headphones
200x200x150 cm galvanised steel modular structure, draped rubber latex
Edition of 2 including installation, edition of 3 video excluding installation
Acquired by the Sgabello Collection in Amsterdam, Netherlands