A longing arrow seeks forth death, an ending, a final formation. Gun on her shoulder, Henrietta Fisher is at the head of it, her body searching for demise.
In the dark screening room of Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Fisher’s video quietly traces a journey beginning in the bush, with the killing of an animal and the lamenting over it in a cave.
The video is reflected in a water-filled aluminium tray placed below the screen, allowing for viewing in the inverse. The water brings us close to that which is tangible, but also reminds us that what can be touched cannot necessarily be held.
Moving image is technological, it is painting in motion, it is motion without end. The water, the deep- green surroundings, the red blood, Fisher’s white garments—each element works to form a pastoral tableau that complicates the contemporary technological form. But slicing through it all: the arrow-now-gun, a violence in the video’s flesh, holding us apart.
Hands softly placed on the horn of the now-dead animal, Fisher mourns for what was once alive. She invites us to reflect on this relationship—the animal is dead because of her actions, but in this state it is also mourned. She wears the mark of its passing, the blood resting on her clothing.
Who are we without our surroundings? Am I who I am without an awareness of what is around me? Is my life worth more than an animal’s? I am interconnected, intertwined, placed copiously among that which feeds me/ houses me/gives me life. Fisher’s film draws us closer to that which is among, beneath and surrounding us—if only we are aware of it.
