On the occasion of her 27th birthday, the artist made this work which chronicles her passage through time. In the tape, she undresses, then reveals, touches, counts, dates and recounts the story of every scar on her body.
EN
“On the occasion of my 27th birthday I decided to do a tape that chronicled my passage through time. I have always been clumsy, tripping, dropping, falling with alarming regularity. This tape accepts the extent of the consequences.”
Lisa Steele
“The soundtrack consists entirely of the sounds and voice of the take. Notwithstanding the private and unspectacular setting, the strict form of Birthday Suit. With Scars and Defects – its seemingly rehearsed choreography, the chronological ordering of memory, and the unvarying repetition of gestures – unsettles the viewer’s spontaneous impression of an unedited sequence. Directly addressing the viewer as "you", moreover, contrasts with the otherwise private setting. Such gaze alignment, which the fixed camera position epitomizes, opens up the scene toward a literally "exhibitionist" affirmation of self.”
Sigrif Adorf1
- 1Sigrif Adorf, "Operation Video. The Use of Images as Visual Agents in Struggles Over Representation". FKW Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung und Visuelle Kultur (57 ed.), 20214, 44–45.
