Image Union, episode 1223

Annette Barbier and her daughter Celine went to India for four months in 1988. Her tape documents the everyday lives of village women and muses philosophically about the cultural differences. In an unusual touch, Barbier translates the conversation between villagers as she shoots, so we have a unique opportunity to understand how her presence with a video camera makes them feel.

00:18Copy video clip URL Opening credits.

01:17Copy video clip URL Barbier’s tape “Women’s Movements” opens.

01:25Copy video clip URL “Away.” Indian music plays over images of women working in various capacities.

02:12Copy video clip URL “The Connection.” While shooting a woman sweeping, Barbier continually tries to keep her daughter out of the camera’s view.

04:52Copy video clip URL “Rhythm I.” A woman sits on the floor and grinds some herbs into a paste on a stone with a stone rolling pin.

06:18Copy video clip URL “Strangers.” Barbier comments on her experience and her perspective versus that of Burt, another filmmaker.

09:13Copy video clip URL Barbier comments on her first experience of wearing a sari over footage of a cloth drying on a line in the wind.

09:40Copy video clip URL Paani (water). A woman pumps the well to get water, while others wait their turn. She comments on the concept of retrieving water. An Indian woman also speaks about India over images of women washing clothes in the river. Celine also speaks into the microphone, mistaking it for a telephone with her father on the other end.

13:21Copy video clip URL “The Goddess Went Barefoot.” A woman paints on the ground and instructs about what she is creating. Barbier speaks of her trip to Gandhi’s home over footage of a walk through a field.

15:27Copy video clip URL “Swept Away.” Images of women washing dishes and preparing bread with subtitles of their conversations flashing on screen. More images of a woman milking a cow and women sweeping. These images are in slow motion. Women also carry and sift dirt in a construction project.

25:36Copy video clip URL “Rhythm 2.” Scenes of women and children working, painting, and preparing grain.

27:06Copy video clip URL “The Moon.” Barbier comments on her transition back home in a poetic way over these now familiar images of women in India.

28:06Copy video clip URL Tape credits.

28:48Copy video clip URL Image Union credits.

29:48Copy video clip URL End of tape.

 

1 Comment

  1. Annette Barbier, the artist behind “Women’s Movements,” sadly passed away unexpectedly on June 5, 2017. It has been wonderful to see this poignant piece again. My name is Celine- Annette’s daughter (and the little girl that plays a reoccurring role in this video). I’m incredibly proud of my mother’s legacy, including this important work.

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