The joke’s on us
2024, Digital Video Art, 2-channel video
Audio: Ava Marie feat. Tiffany Berting (Open-Source)
Duration: 2 mins 01 sec (looped)
The two-channel video simultaneously displays George Francis Joseph’s portrait of Stamford Raffles, questioning how colonial figures are remembered and venerated while exposing contradictions embedded within these narratives. On the left, the portrait is digitally hacked into a continuous, silent loop of unsettling facial expressions, subtly distorting its authoritative image. On the right, the same portrait appears intact but reversed, including the text, mirroring the left. Schubert’s "Ave Maria" plays only on the right. The solemnity of the music contrasts with the eerie silence and visual manipulation on the left, amplifying the tension between preservation and change. This dual presentation fractures the fixed perception of collective memory, subverting colonial power and reframing legacy through interference. The piece challenges the inherent absurdity of glorifying colonial figures, suggesting that such veneration has become a hollow, performative act.