SHIRLEY BRUNO
An Excavation of Us (Le Déterrement de Nous), 2017
single-channel video (2D and 3D compositing animation)
11:11
RIVERSIDE PARK
An Excavation of Us recalls the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)—the first slave-led insurrection that successfully led to liberation. The film’s narrator is Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière, a legendary freedom fighter, who bravely fought in male disguise against the French during the Revolution. Melding shadow puppetry with footage of the Haitian caves named after this national hero, An Excavation of Us evokes the everyday horrors of slavery where “techniques of torture [were] written down like recipes.” Shirley Bruno uses the caves’ complex cavities as a potent metaphor for the labyrinthian recesses of Haitian collective memory and cruel colonial history. While paying homage to Lamartinière, Bruno reflects on the brutal hypocrisy of French revolutionaries fighting for the democratic values of liberty, equality and fraternity in France while French armies waged war against the slave uprisings in Haiti.
Shirley Bruno’s films take their point of departure from neglected histories, rumors, dreams and memories both real and (re)imagined investigating the everyday, the Sacred and the intimate violence in the things left unsaid generation after generation. She (re)creates modern myths that expose the impermanence between the material and spiritual, documentary and fiction, between collective memory and history.
Bruno's work screens nationally and internationally at major festivals and contemporary art exhibitions. Her films Tezen and An Excavation of Us are included in the permanent collections of Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France; Leal Rios Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; and Vidéographe, Montréal, Québec. Exhibitions and special screenings of her works have presented at Locarno International Film Festival, Hammer Museum, MoMA, MAI (Montréal arts interculturels), La Galerie Municipale Vitry de Jean Collet, Villa Médici Rome, Palais de Tokyo, and Maison Européenne de la Photographie, among others. A Jerome Hill Artist Fellow (2019-21), Bruno has funding and support for her work include Berlinale, La Cité International des Arts, LIM Le Groupe Ouest, Abrons Arts Center, Triangle-Astérides France, Jerome Foundation, National Greek Film Centre, NYSCA, NYFA. An alumna of Le Fresnoy, she lives and works alternately in France, Haiti and New York City where she is currently developing her feature debut Just Come//Been To and large-scale video installation Saltwater Heart.
Shirley Bruno
An Excavation of Us (Le Déterrement de Nous), 2017
single-channel video (2D and 3D compositing animation)
courtesy of the Artist
Photos: Frank Luca