Magnesium Light

Project Overview

  1. Dennis Del Favero
  2. 2009
  3. Two Channel DVD Video. 4 minutes. BW. Stereo.
  4. Part 1: You and I
  5. Part 2: Hold Me

Magnesium Light is a video project investigating the events surrounding the Abu Ghraib photographs of 2006.

You and I: Viewers enter a darkened space showing images tracking over bodyscape fragments of the same male figure seen in the etching as a female figure touches this body with sexual caress. It appears to be a passionate love scene in the days leading up to the etching scene. The female voice-over, with its American accent, along with fragments of a uniform, subtly complicate this by suggesting it is the memory of a female soldier based somewhere in Iraq, as she sexually provokes a prisoner.

Hold Me: At the centre of the previous installation is a hollow black monolith. Looking down into its core, viewers see the previous scenes, but from the point of view of the man. The man’s voice-over can be heard through headphones. We watch and listen as he recalls his wife, and attempts to bury himself in memory.

You and I video documentation

You and I.7You and I.10You and I.4
You and I video stills
Hold Me.1Hold Me.2Hold Me.3
Hold Me video stills

Exhibition

  • John Curtin Gallery, Perth, 2012
  • University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, 2011
  • Galerie Marion Scharmann, Cologne, 2009
  • Forgetful Sky, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, 2009