Sacha and Mum

Sacha and Mum is a black and white video with sound which may be shown either on a large monitor or as a projection. It was made in an edition of three plus one artist’s proof which is Tate’s copy. The video consists of a four and a half minute loop. Wearing edited her original video footage on computer so that picture and sound play alternately backwards and forwards. The work depicts a mother and daughter locked in an emotional and physical struggle. Wearing employed two actresses and filmed them in a friend’s bedroom. She choreographed the episode carefully. ‘Sacha’, the daughter, is clad only in a white bra and pants, rendering her more vulnerable than her mother, whose body is hidden and protected by a floral dress. The footage begins with the two women embracing but this quickly turns to violence, as the mother pulls her daughter’s hair, forcing her head back and forth vigorously as she kneels on the ground. The women alternately exchange tenderness and aggression, culminating in Sacha’s face being covered with a towel that is both a protective mask and possible means of suffocation. The original sounds recorded during the episode are amplified. Coupled with their being played in reverse, this has resulted in disturbing, loud and rasping, out-of-breath noises of sobs, grunts and murmurs that are impossible to identify. The difficulty the viewer will experience in disentangling the loving from the abusive gestures reflects the confusion frequently felt in family relationships where love and hostility may be hard to separate. This ambiguous mixture of tenderness and cruelty echoes what is perhaps experienced by those who are abused physically or psychologically by family members whom they love and trust. Wearing circled the women as she filmed them, enhancing the claustrophobic feel of their relationship.