IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING

2023

Video Installation
Video, felt, graffiti

In Spite of Everything investigates gestures of refusal and discontent through the act of spitting. Inspired by a scene in Diane Bonder’s video work ‘Physics of Love‘ (1998) – in which a photo of the artist’s mother is spat upon by the artist – the work re-enacts this moment as a meditation on bodily memory, unresolved relationships, and the disruption of the familiar.

Spit becomes both subject and material: a paradoxical fluid that signifies affection and aggression, purity and pollution, control and loss. It lives in the mouth, mingles with speech and breath, carries scent and contamination, and exits the body with a sound that punctuates contempt. Traditionally relegated to the vulgar and improper, saliva is one of the bodily fluid – alongside sweat, tears, and menstrual blood – that must be contained. Through spitting, the work reflects on uncomfortable feelings and emotional states that escape or exceed language.

The work was developed through a re-enactment of the scene from ‘Physics of Love’, filmed in collaboration with artist Marta Hryniuk. The video essay Notes on Spit, reflects on the re-enactment and its themes.

Images of the exhibition at an other world. Documentation: Jake Caleb & Ari David

Camera: Marta Hryniuk & Ari David
Colour grade: Marta Hryniuk
Text editing: Roni Zaftig

Special thanks to Marta Hryniuk, Sophie Bates, Nick Thomas, WET film, Jake Caleb, Hedvig Koertz, and Roni Zaftig.