The current pandemic has made us think about the need, as a global society, to look at our relationship with planet Earth. Science has been warning us for a while that if we don’t take actions to change our relationship towards the planet, we risk having floods, refugee crises, wild fires and pandemics. We believe that the current pandemic can be a call to action. Our Skin is a project that aims to reflect on the place where we live and to remember that we are nature.
Concept and direction | Yael Karavan and Rita Vilhena
Performed and devised by | Yael Karavan, Rita Vilhena with Joana Castro, Thamiris Carvalho and Jim Clark
Film maker, editing and colour correction | Francisca Manuel
Sound design | Diogo Melo
Costumes | Carlota Lagido
Photography | Josefa Searle
Executive production | Rita Vilhena/ Joana Cordeiro
Administrative and financial management | Vítor Alves Brotas – Agência 25
Production | Partícula Extravagante and Agência 25
Photo | Carlota Lagido and Josefa Searle
Supported | the ministry of culture of Portugal- DGARTES, Re-union residency, Dance centre
Victor Cordon and Castanhera de Pera council.
Our Skin is a 35 minutes dance film created by Yael Karavan and Rita Vilhena and made in
collaboration with film maker Francisca Manuel, performers Joana Castro, Thamiris Carvalho and Jim Clark, costume designer Carlota Lagido and sound designer Kino Sousa. Filmed in the
wilderness of Coentral Grande, in Castanheira de Pêra, the artistic object is composed of images
captured with micro and macro lenses of the skin of the trees, the veins of the rivers, and the bodies of the dancers, contradicting the separation that exists in urban society. The film observes and questions how we influence each other: Body-Earth, Earth-Body as it explores the transformation of the female body merging with the natural landscape. The boundaries between the performers bodies and the landscape disappear, highlighting the continuity of our skin into the skin of the earth.
Our Skin aims to bring back the wild nature into the urban spaces where it once belonged.
The project also includes a workshop with the local community towards a performative action with the intention of sensitizing and motivating the participants into critical thinking on the main climate related themes of the project. The presentation of the film is thus accompanied by a performance that results from a 2-3 days workshop offered to the local community.
This project is a public art work, aiming to reach diverse communities regardless of their financial background, class and/or artistic inclination. We wish to bring back nature to different urban spaces where it once thrived, and thus remind ourselves that we are not independent from it. The film is designed to be projected in large format on the facades of buildings in the city, visible to passers-by in the street or in galleries and/or museums, or in dance film festivals. We want to bring back the presence of the wild nature, into the urban spaces.
Dedicated in memory of the artist Dani Karavan who passed away during the creation of this film.
