There was so much to this exhibition that I have to go back to really take it all in. One piece really struck me during this visit.
This piece was painful for me to sit through. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing, I came into the room around the end and stayed for the beginning, so I think I missed a good chunk of the middle. Antin sits almost facing the camera, seemingly peering into a mirror in the distance. From what you can tell, she is wearing only a see-through bra, and seems to be going through her nighttime beauty regime before bed – she washes her face, applies a face cream, musses with her hair, poses, talks to herself, and takes drags from a cigarette in between prepping her skin for sleep.
The piece is in stark black-and-white, and completely silent. The only sound I could hear was the sound of the Nathalie Djurberg exhibition softly in the distance. The effect is eerie, as if you are the mirror image Antin is staring into. When she speaks to herself, your brain fills in the blanks. I heard my own insecurities while watching her eyes pensively scan the mirror/camera and her mouth mumble something inaudible.
I also found myself thinking how gorgeous she looked like this, taking off all of her make-up and looking so vulnerable. I noticed how she looked like so many women I recognized from family pictures taken during the 70s. At one point, she stands, removes her bra and waits a moment, just inspecting her image, before putting on a blouse and trying on different poses, as if she were in a department store changing room. I really identified with this one, but it made me wonder how a man might have responded to the same video.
