Eyes Are Watching

A site-specific multi-media installation on:
UNVEILING SILENCED ABUSE: EQUESTRIAN NAVIGATIONS AESTHETIC NEGOTIATIONS AND INTERSPECIES POLITICS

A private home invites to a journey through stories of domestic abuse on humans and horses alike, that are referred to and intertwined by crafted objects, ready-ma-des, domestic materials, videos, sounds and texts. Stories are molded through ob-servations and experiencing domestic violence, as well as years of collaborating with survivors of domestic violence, female sex-workers and my close bond with horses since childhood. The doorstep into someone’s house or sharing a meal negotiate power and trust.

Individuals with experiences of abuse react most likely to threat of danger like a prey, a horse, scan the environment carefully before allowing closeness to happen. Feeling safe is prerequisite for social capacity for all mammals. Most cases of domestic violence stay unnoticed due to taboo, social isolation or missing support systems. Compensations such as substance abuse, addiction or self-harm can lead as far as to post traumatic stress disorder or suicide. Animals share similar symptoms in depression and PTSD like humans. Entering the house welcomes us as participants of a play, walking on soft golden fiber, merging the real with the imaginary. Horse bits crafted like candy seduce to linger towards a dining table in the middle of the stage, titled ALL THAT POWER GOING ANYWAY YOU WANTED.

Metallic horse curbs replace cutlery and are meant to be touched, reflecting on the close line between intimacy and harm. The Poem WHO IS FREE exposed in a glamourous golden frame at the wall is inspired by race horses’ names and tackles humans’ desires and questions of freedom. Torch lights investigate objects like a gaze, that can trace, lead, unveil, deny. PASSION CAN BE DESTROYED. IT CANNOT BE CREATED, is the title of the video projected on curtains in a bedroom. Intimate appearing white fabrics dominate here, inspired by modernist architect Adolf Loos and „The Loos Case“.

Horse bits crafted in clay lay spread on the bed as if they have just been used. EQUUS by Peter Shaffer gives quotes to this entire research-based project, refer-ring to the complexity of the human condition. We see the deeply depressed stalli-on Zuma, stumbling carefully on a beach, coping with his pain. Camera movements adjust to his body language from far to close-up, offer the horse space and a sense of agency in his state of victimhood. Sounds of my own and my horses’ heartbeats weave towards the video projection of IN YOUR EYES, an ongoing collection of close-ups from racehorses’ eyes as well as injured body parts while they are waiting for the next race to start.

According to Derrida, it is in the eye of an animal that we can gain self-awareness and compassion, in that we are confronted with our failure to care for the other, the other animal, over that God has given us his power.

Ulla Deventer, August 2024

Special Thanks to Kwabena Afriyie Poku and Nana Ofei Bruce Michal Assistance Elvis Yibor, Chris Parker Edzordzi Sefogah aka Megborna,
Albert Oduro Asanté, Francis Fosu, Emmanuel Tsekpo