Spike Film and Video are proud to have been involved in the production of a new film, Weed Killer by artist Patrick Staff, commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Patrick Staff, a Spike Island alumni artist, presented his video installation Weed Killer (2017) at The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) from 12 March to 3 July 2017. The work is inspired by artist-writer Catherine Lord’s memoir The Summer of Her Baldness (2004) – a moving and often irreverent account of the author’s experience of cancer.
At the heart of Weed Killer is a monologue – adapted from Lord’s moving and often irreverent book – in which an actress reflects upon the chemically induced devastation of chemotherapy. This monologue is intertwined with comparatively otherworldly sequences, including choreographic gestures shot with high-definition thermal imaging. Presented as an immersive installation, Weed Killer suggests a complex relationship to one’s own suffering and draws into focus the fine line between alternately poisonous and curative substances.
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