TROUBLED HISTORIES, ECSTATIC SOLITUDES
The Koffler Gallery Toronto

Curated by Mona Filip.

Troubled Histories, Ecstatic Solitudes is the first solo show in Canada of British-Spanish artist filmmaker Isabel Rocamora. Portrait in Time and Gesture (2005) interrogates the claim of true representation at the heart of the photographic portrait by tracing the inconsistencies and oscillations of the self over an individual's history. Across two enveloping projections, employing testimony and choreographed bodies, Horizon of Exile (2007) considers questions of female self-image, belonging and effacement in the journey of exile. Body of War (2010) reflects on military training. Punctuated by testimonies of retired and serving soldiers, the film deconstructs a sequence of hand-to-hand combat to expose the radical proximity between human intimacy and the brutality of war. In triptych form, Faith (2015, exhibition premiere) closely observes the morning prayers of an Orthodox Jew, a Greek Orthodox Christian, and a Sunni Muslim. Over time, the contiguity of the three figures invites a witnessing of difference grounded in the equal value of each individual life.

Download the exhibition catalogue with an essay by Mark Cauchi HERE.