Pity/No Pity

Single channel video / performance - 2023

pity = a cause for regret and disappointment

no pity = to be without mercy

What is the social desirability of pity when we start from the iconic image of the mythical and imaginary Mary as the embodiment of pity which has fuelled millenia of role play whereby the ideal and only female life worth living is one of servitude to men?The division of labour in the domestic is an enduring complication to gender equality. How to dismantle these enduring power structures?

Can we make service to others a respected and valued part of our life where no-one has to 'other' themselves for the sake of a power dynamic?

Each couple has constructed ways to be together; strategies and compromises that enable them to be part of a pair. In Pity-No Pity the artist uses reflections from a personal perspective and other found images to search for a balance between the desire for love and caring as an ultimate human driver and the cultural / economical expectations on the role of carer as a supposedly biological given. 

This work was made during an artist residency at Recyclart, Brussels