I Will Not Hesitate to React Spiritually, 2019
Single channel video, HD, colour, sound. 16:9, 2 min. 35 secs
Edition of 5 +2AP
I Will Not Hesitate to React Spiritually was conceived as a site-specific project for the former building of the Lambeth County Court. The work was displayed as court evidence in the main courtroom.
'While working at the court building I found a box of documents about a man's turbulent interactions with Lambeth authorities, where we could follow the deterioration of his mental health until he eventually became homeless. Real documents such as witnesses' declarations, psychiatric reports, Council and police letters, etc., were mixed up with visual evidence created by me. This included photographs, objects, found and manipulated items presented inside wooden vitrines; one light box; two pieces of video; and a drawing on the floor.
The real and the fictitious were difficult to tell apart. This juxtaposition opened the written records to other possibilities, and spoke of impotence and the excesses of power.
The title of the exhibition was taken from one of his letters, in which, after years of fighting with the Council to no success, the protagonist threatens to revert to spiritual action. Magic, sects and religion become a leitmotiv and a metaphor of rules and powers much more earthly.'
Greta Alfaro
I Will Not Hesitate to React Spiritually was a commission from Roaming Room, supported by Arts Council England and Acción Cultural Española.
