VIDEOKOPPI | 22.7.-8.8.2023
Statement
Shot within the constraints of Melbourne’s ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns, ‘Leave Your Body’ features the apartment where the filmmaker spent the better part of 2020 and 2021. However, where she sees a prison, her partner Sean sees a sanctuary. To him these five rooms are a fortress, not only protecting them from the virus, but also from the social pressure to interact with strangers. Portraying a fictitious version of himself (as well as the film’s various intruders) he defends his solitude while quietly losing touch with reality. ‘Leave Your Body’ is a celebration of isolation, but also an acknowledgement that the longer confinement continues; the harder it is to rejoin society.
Artist Bio
Spanning music video, fashion photography and art projects, Natasha Cantwell‘s work openly embraces awkwardness while drawing from the absurdity of human behaviour. Her 16mm experimental films have screened at festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including Experiments In Cinema in the U.S. and the European Media Art Festival and Stuttgart Filmwinter Festival For Expanded Media in Germany. Alongside her art practice, she produces and curates for festivals and galleries, including the Auckland Underground Film Festival, Channels: The Australian Video Art Festival and the Victorian Archives Centre Gallery. She is currently based in Melbourne, Australia.