The Affect of Absence: Rebecca Belmore and the Aesthetico-politics of “unnameable affects”
Keywords:
Aesthetics and ethics of performance, affect of absence, native artAbstract
Abstract
This essay discusses Rebecca Belmore’s work as a form of protest against violence and a memorial for native cultures and compares her performances and their documentation with later installations in galleries. Her work overcomes the dichotomies of presence and absence, of speaking out and silence, and that of image and language with affect that transgresses genres, media, and material.
Résumé
Cet essai traite de l’œuvre de Rebecca Belmore comme une forme de protestation contre la violence et un mémorial aux cultures indigènes et compare ses performances et leur documentation avec des installations ultérieures dans des galeries. Son œuvre surmonte les dichotomies de la présence et de l’absence, de la parole et du silence, de l’image et du langage et est chargée d’un affect qui transgresse les genres, les médias et le matériel.
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