Liquid Skin, 2023

Two-channel video installation, aspect ratio 4:3, 23 min 19 sec, 4K infrared, 5.1 sound

Bringing together nine iconic locations filmed at night, Liquid Skin consists of extended, single-shot sequences, each guided by one female protagonist. Between dusk and dawn, ‘in the shadows of time’, these women, who all perform night-time labour, take us on a tour of sites linked by history, economics and events shaping the post-industrial landscape of the Ruhr region in Germany. Known for its coal mining history, the region has long been dominated by stories of male achievements. Hence the work aims to celebrate the everyday contributions of a group of cross-generational local women, amongst them a tram-driver, a factory-worker, a baker, a pole dancer, a nurse and a wold-champion wrestler. It aims to address and question socio-political assumptions that shape our views on equitable futures. 

Filmed in low-contrast infrared, Liquid Skin crosses the dreamlike counterlogic of Lynchian film with spaces that may evoke Lang’s Metropolis or drawings by Escher.

Sound significantly shapes the work, referring to the industrial, technological and subterranean sounds of each space. I constructed the soundtrack from field recordings captured in each location but used in a non-diegetic way that consciously avoids synch sound.