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Three-channel video projection
size of one video: 1920x1080, Full HD, 16:9
duration: two versions 11' or 60' / loop

direction: Barbara Mydlak
photography: Barbara Mydlak
editing: Barbara Mydlak, Mikołaj Szczęsny
sound design: Barbara Mydlak
archival videos: Jan Maksymiec
special thanks to: Agnieszka Szafran, Jan Maksymiec, Mikołaj Szczęsny

WATCH / video fragments

The installation comprises three parallel-screened films, consisting of stop-motion animation intertwined with archival footage filmed by my uncle Jan Maksymiec in 1989.
This archival material is the only existing moving record of my mother's presence. The piece explores the themes of life and death, where death is portrayed as the absence of life.
I juxtapose the empty house, after the furniture and body have been removed and abandoned by the family, with joyful memories that I cannot physically remember, but which are restored through the film.
This aspect also references the ritual of empty nights and evokes images that have been deeply ingrained in my memory.

The sequence includes scenes of the sun's rays illuminating the room as a memory of sun illuminating the body during the wake, leading to rapid decomposition, specific smell and ultimately the thawing of the body.
In an empty room, water flows in and out endlessly, following a repetitive cycle. The sun's rays warm the room in a diurnal rhythm.
The fire of the thimbles, a symbol of death and rebirth, leaves a mark on the wall that I clumsily attempt to remove.

I resided in an abandoned house for ten days, seeking a place that would remind me of my home, which I could no longer return to.
Working on the film was a continuous vigil, relying on the rhythm of nature and weather conditions.

The moving photographs repeat themselves ad infinitum.

The sequence loops.

The cycle of life and death begins again.