Ophelio
Day Magee
Contributors
Day Magee - Director & Performer
Brid Murphy - Camera Operator
Brid Murphy - Camera Operator
Synopsis
The artist performs to camera reclining in a river, inhabiting a masculinised role of Shakespeare's iconic character Ophelia.
Concept & Technique
“Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads And recks not his own rede.” -Ophelia, ‘Hamlet’, W. Shakespeare Historically, the queer’s self-actualisation is dogged by pathology at the hands of heteronormativity, its associations rooted in abjection, these artefacts embodying themselves sexually via internalised homophobia in self-fulfilling prophecies. Self-destruction characterises many a queer’s road to their self-reconciliation, if indeed that end be ultimately met at all. Inspired by the analyses of queer theorists Leo Bersani, David M. Halperin, and Tim Dean of the death drive’s exhibition in queer sexual praxes, the artist here reinterprets the Shakespearean role of Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover who ultimately took her own life, through a contemporary lens of gender and sexuality in video portraiture.
Screenings
2019 - OUTLines at One Art Space, Manhattan
2019 - Diffraction at 126 Gallery, Galway
2019 - Diffraction at 126 Gallery, Galway
Details
Title
Ophelio
Year
2019
Key phrases
queer theory, queer performance art, performance to camera, Irish performance
Language
English
Duration
00:06:00 (looped)
Original formats
Digital 4k
Screening formats
Digital 4K
Aspect ratio
16:9
Colour
Black & White
Sound
Yes