OF BEASTS AND MEN

Of Beasts and Men is a work of collaboration between Joanna Malinowska and C.T. Jasper. The piece consists of a single-channel black and white video with no sound, displayed on an old format television monitor. Composed of found footage obtained from various online sources, the video is manipulated in such a way as to look historical, with images appearing as if they were being projected from scratched and distressed film reels. While the video is essentially a collage of fragments of found video, it also serves as a collage of ideas concerning humans and their relationship to nature. Some of the footage in the video captures intimate, unrestrained encounters between people and wild animals—such as wolves, bears, and foxes—but these scenes are briefly interrupted by a brutal sequence of a bear being shot. The stark contrast between these moments only seems to render preexisting notions of humankind’s place in nature moot and begs for something more.