A.B.O.
2023, 5m video projection.
How can I purposefully cultivate an un-optimal image of myself? What is the least efficient way I can present my body under a contemporary ‘idealized’ lens? A.B.O. asks this question: two close-up videos of hands molding belly fat into non-idealized forms project synonymously while three female voices coach them- or us- through a barre routine at varying speeds. The video operates as a stalled ‘before and after’ template, a kind of advertising format which commonly celebrates a weightloss. Instead, the hands ruminate in, sculpt, and wedge fatty tissue. Three female voices, three graces of the past, present, and future, are contracted into the present alone. The chorus instructs the hands- or perhaps the viewer- how to perform their body in a fast-paced, nonsensical setting. They imply that a better body, a better future, is attainable if only we work, work, work.
