I decided to try something new, to have an intervention without me - I sent emails with instructions and hoped for the best. The first one I sent, I noticed I didn't ask to elaborate few answers so I was missing the story behind, so I updated the email for the next time.
I'm sending you links to two video clips I made an intervention for my project, followed by the narrative behind it, followed by some questions. allis all it should take you about 10-15 minutes, but you should watch the video with sound.
so, link to the clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvNhtHPdgUE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L_HTLXI4M8 Narrative: in this video, I'm trying to display my experience as being an Israeli women who migrated to the UK. Moving to a new country, you might be considered lucky enough to reinvent yourself and follow your new persona, make new friendships, new job etc. but you need also to struggle with identity, and how you present yourself in front of new socially accepted behaviour, new rules, new set of required skills, new language, new systems in a place not yet considered to be your home. Using textile, in this case, T-shirt I demonstrate my struggle with my exposure, my identity, the way I present myself, and how I feel about it. Questions:
Q: Name 5 emotions that you felt after watching the two video clips and reading the story behind it.
A1: Intensity, frustration, unease, stress, intrigue (Al)
A2: Discomfort, Restlessness, Empathy, Curiosity, Ambivalence (Ay)
A3: perplexity, stress (music and speed of movement), a few spurs of laugh, curiosity and exhilaration (L)
A4: Uncomfortable, amused, discordant, awkward, uneasy These were emotions I got from watching the films before reading the narrative. When I watched the films with the narrative you provided in mind then the emotions were a bit different; it made more sense but still not 100% easy to square the emotions experienced with the narrative provided. (H)
A5: I’m not sure all of these are emotions (that’s a big debate in itself) and I only get to four but I would say interest, amusement, some admiration, a little gentle anxiety (P)
A6: Disorganization, Confusion, Curiosity, Need to escape, Laughter (T)
A7: Confuse, miss you (love), struggling myself, I want to help you (empathy), thinking how much your Narrative is accurate (EF)
A8: (sort of): anxiety, fear, disorientation, confusion, dead-end, lightness. (N)
A9: empathy, impatience, sexual attraction, anxiety, identifying (A)
10. confusion, intrigue, anxiety (the weird music freaked me out!), respect, admiration (F)
Q: Have you experienced this kind of struggle in other aspects of your life?
A1: Although, not to the same degree as you have, Yes. My work involves using another language, (British Sign Language) and immersing myself in another culture (deaf culture). There have been many occasions where ‘reading’ other people’s intentions and behaviours have been difficult in a culture that I, myself was not born in to. I’ve also experienced frustration in not being able to convey the ‘real me’ in another language! I would say that, even WITH a common language, there are times in life where ‘fitting in’ and being understood on a deeper level can be difficult. Speaking as a Woman, I would say the topic of female/ a women’s identity is a topic close to my heart!
A2: I've experienced this kind of struggle also as a woman trying to fit into the male-dominated startup scene in Tel Aviv a few years ago will trying to found my own startup. I had the joy of learning new things and inventing my self but also suffers the frustration of my limits and natural difference.
A3: Yes - actually as a foreigner myself I can totally relate to this. Sometimes we are caught between what we think we are because of our life before moving abroad and what we have become since we live abroad. It is interesting to see that it goes both ways as, if you live abroad long enough, you can then struggle going back ‘home’ as ‘home’ is now no longer there. I like the video because the body language is always resisting rules. It comes from the heart and the soul.
A4: Yes I think throughout life one is presented with situations where your identity is challenged by your environment and by other people in that environment and it is not always an easy fit. I experienced this far more in the past, in my younger years of teens and twenties, in university, in employment, in motherhood and in unfamiliar social situations. I experience it far less these days, partly because I find myself in unfamiliar situation less, and partly because I don't give a fuck now. The more literal interpretation of not feeling comfortable inside my skin, and inside my clothes is also very familiar. Some days you just feel that nothing fits right including your own skin.
A5: I think there’s a version of this with every new workplace and, when you’re a consultant, with every different client.
A7: Seems like I am still struggling every new day of my life, with my kids' education..but what comes to my head more specific is like starting a new job in a new place, this is a minor/gentle phase of the situation you had just described here.
A8: As an actor, coming to a new group of actors that have already worked together, you have to prove yourself and get the new rules.
A9: First, I have experienced this exact kind of struggle (moving to a different culture for a long period) 5 times in my life. In other aspects, there could be similar experiences before any function (dinner, public event) where I don't know the people and it is unknown territory - even if it is in my country.
A10: Have you experienced this kind of struggle in other aspects of your life? if so, please elaborate in few sentences.- I moved to Japan when I was 21 and experienced struggles to be understood, to 'fit in' (impossible), to understand the host culture, to know how I should behave. At times I became isolated and even struggled with other Engish speaking foreigners because our cultures were also different. It taught me a lot about myself and humans and I found it fascinating how we interpret each other's cultures.
Q: From 1-5 (1 not good, 5 very good), how was your experience of the video in aspect of:
content =>5 4 4 4 3 5 3 3 4 5
clarity of the idea =>5 3 5 3- I do feel that the video tells the story well, but initially it felt to me that the film was more simply about body identity rather than more complex forms of identity 3 4 4 3 2-4 (the metaphor of wearing the shirt as signifying an immigrant's experience is not clear without the text (2), but I believe that is a good thing (4) 4
interest => 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 3 3.5 (this length is probably the maximum) 5
sound => 5 5 3 4 4 5 5 4 4 4
interruptions => 5 5 3 4 5 5 4 4
humour => 1 (a personal response is that I didn’t find it funny) 4 ( The thing I found funny is the resemblance between a person and a T-shirt. You can turn it to so many different shapes but at the end of the day, the irony is that a T-shirt stays a T-shirt. We are not much more than what we are no matter how we turn things around) 5 4 3 5 1 3 3 4
length => 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 5 4 5
Q: Do you feel that the video clip was able to elevate your empathy toward migrated women or women in this situation?
A1: Yes, it did. Watching the film, I feel a sense of frustration as the women/you frantically tries to fit the garment. The additional background information related to the topic of migration makes me ponder how difficult it must be for a women arriving for the first time into a new country, culture and language. I feel empathy toward 'the mysterious headless woman' who dances about and who 'struggles' to 'fit'. Your text makes me think about issues of identity and the importance of 'fitting' with others, physically, socially, linguistically, and mentally, but it also raises the question, What is identity? Although my interpretation is of a 'woman struggling', I can also see that perhaps another interpretation could be that she is quickly 'adapting' to situations, 'to make things work' and find a solution. For me, the speed of the clip framing, the haste of the women's actions 'to change', and the distorted sound/music, whether it be a struggle or adaptation, has a powerful impact.
A2: The video itself didn’t give me the information about the conflict that was presented. If it stands alone it won’t direct the empathy that it evokes toward migrated woman but coming with this additional text it sure does the work.
A3: I am not sure it’s really empathy I felt as it is almost too fast and speedy for me to get to that depth of emotion. I think for me this is more a playful demonstration of the concept of struggling, catching up, trying to be there but it’s already too late - that I found very interesting and visually entertaining.
A4: Yes but I think this was achieved more through reading the narrative than through watching the videos. The two combined did serve to tell this story but as I said above I didn't find it easy to marry the two
A5: To a degree but I think I needed the narrative to make some connections for me that I probably would not have made myself from the Avant grade nature of the content.
A6: I did not relate the video clip to immigrants before reading your explanation. However, it was obvious to me that the women in the clip was trying to find the best representation of herself using the T-shirt. It was funny and interesting and made me feel empathy for the struggling women. It made me think what circumstances made her change the obvious way of wearing the garment.
A7: Of course, but only because I was there .. for one that was part of this struggling, every move you doing in this clip makes me reconnect to those old times, feel again the confusion, the (sometimes) panic, the motivation to meet new people and see new places .. I believe that for someone else, which didn't experience that, this clip will not necessary increases sympathy towards migrated people.
A8: No more empathy. Because your white :) just kidding. I don't know, maybe I'm used to drama for empathy, and this is more of a ritual. And no face is seen.
A9: Yes, it makes you think and it is a good metaphor - but you need the text or a title to make it work.
A10: I think it reinforced my understanding of the feelings people go through when moving to another country, and how we expect people to just adapt when it's actually really difficult. I'm not sure it has made me more empathetic.
Q: Do you feel you have inquired any new knowledge from this experience?
A1: Yes I have! Yes definitely, I have learnt a great deal from watching the film in conjunction with the written text, but also from speaking with you in person, Tamar. I guess, overall, I take from it the multifaceted difficulties migrant woman can be presented with and the speed with which she must adapt in order to survive. The lost identity, or the search for a new, as yet undiscovered identity comes through here.
A2: Yes I have. As a woman who is in kind of the same situation- an Israeli woman who migrated to Ireland, I realized through this experience (what I haven’t realized from my one life experience ) just haw exhausting this proses is. Being an Israeli migrant in Ireland is an intense experience but while I’m living it at the moment I have less perspective of it. The video with the text connected me to feelings of discomfort and restlessness that leads to exhaustion.
A3: I have experienced something and this is always good.
A4: How many ways it is possible to wear one t-shirt. How it is possible to use one simple act/prop to tell a complex story.
A5: It’s helped me think about ways of expression
A7: from watching the clip? or from experienced being struggled as a migrated woman? If this is the later, so, of course, big time !.. living in London was my actual grown-up part in life and gave me the strength and "tools" to become a single mom.I will always cherish this time in life!
A8: No new knowledge - Its more of an experience that's new here for me. Without the story, I couldn't tell it's about a migrating woman.
A9: Not really. I don't think the idea here is to educate but to create empathy and explain the experience.
A10: I don't think so, but maybe i understand the artist's own struggles a bit more.
Q: Which one of the video did you like more and why?
A1: for me was a close call, but I would say that I preferred Clip 2- visual impact of background
A2: The first one. I prefer the clean esthetic that helps me focus on the subject.
A3: I much prefer the minimalism of the first one. I was wondering how it would play on my emotions if the video was paced differently, very very slowly - maybe I could find empathy in that extra time but then it might not work well with the struggle concept.
A4: I liked the second one more. I liked the 'choreography' more and I found the discordant elements worked better which I liked
A5: Second as I found the soundtrack changes, the static, and some of the content additions a little more engaging.
A6: I liked the second one, I thought it was more humorous.
A7: I liked the first one, cause it was new & interesting (and I think its a better one)( and I like the second one, cause I love your new hearts tattoos )
A8: both the same.
A9: About the same.
A10: neither more than the other
Q: Do you think you would have understood and felt the same after watching the video clip without the story behind it?
A1: I watched both clips before reading your text, then watched them again after understanding more about your intention. I felt the 5 emotions stated in 1, but reading your text helped me comprehend the performance/film more within the context of migration/immigration and the issues that surround the topic of female/women’s identity and belonging.
A2: As I said the video made me feel things but without the text, I probably would have taken it to any conflict that comes to mind and not necessarily the migration issue.
A3: I watched the clip without really reading the text carefully beforehand and I could get an idea of struggle, so yes it is totally approachable without the background text.
A4: No I don't. As I said above I would have thought the narrative was more about body identity than anything broader. But whenever I see any art I read the text about it to understand the context so this is not necessarily problematic.
A5: No, I don’t think I would have.
A6: I wouldn’t relate the clip to immigrants but I would relate it to the topic of self-presentation and perhaps also the stress choosing clothes vs the voice guiding the women or us to relax.. breath
A7: Nope, you can find confusion and struggling in any aspects of life.
A8: I didn't 't see the connection to immigration exactly. Could be a body image conflict, could be getting outside, getting along, but don't see the leaving a country' element.
A9: As I said before, the metaphor was not clear to me without the story. On the other hand, telling the story like this is a bit "feeding a baby with a spoon". Maybe a good solution would be without the full story but just give clearer title to the video, like: "Woman Moving to a New Country" (or different - you can play with the level of clarity as you wish).
A10: No. I might have go the struggling but I wouldn't understand why. The story is important in this I think.
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