This chapter explores 'Awaiting Her Verb' (2022), a talk by art historian and media scholar Rizvana Bradley presented on the occasion of artist Simone Leigh's 2022 United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Appropriately costumed in a keyhole turtleneck, Bradley presented a talk titled 'Awaiting Her Verb' at the symposium 'Loophole of Retreat', held in conjunction with 'Sovereignty', artist Simone Leigh's 2022 U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Rizvana Bradley at Loophole of Retreat: Venice, Fondazione Cini, Venezia, Italy, October 7 to 9, 2022, in conjunction with Simone Leigh: Sovereignty U.S. Pavilion, 59th Biennale di Venezia.
Thought Experiment
Pause the video while Bradley is speaking and study the photograph of Hassinger's Tree Duet I.
Thinking back to what you learned from the thought experiment inspired by Ferreira da Silva's 'In the Raw', avoid separating 'tree' from 'human' in the photograph.
Instead, focus on the exchange of movements and matter in the image. As you release your imagination looking at the photograph, describe where you see evidence of a "weighted existence" and "a lightness of being" in the image.
Keep this image in mind. The workbook will return to the work of Maren Hassinger during the Midjourney tutorial.