The title contains two terms typical for the medium of video. Video however is not the medium central to this piece. This work is Malani's visual animation/interpretation of 'The Job' by Bertolt Brecht, set by Brecht during the depression in Germany. It opens with a newspaper report of an accident in a factory. The medical examination reveals that the person in question is not a man, but a woman. Upon the death of her husband four years earlier, and in dire poverty, she had felt compelled to take over his job clandestinely. To add credibility to her subterfuge 'he' even lives with a woman. After this discovery management does not allow her to carry on working. She is fired and replaced by someone who, according to his birth certificate, does indeed have the 'correct' organ between his legs. The animation itself shows expressive paintings as fragments from the memory. During shooting Malani painted the images on a glass plate, shot them, partially erased the original, added to it, shot again, and so forth. Her own language of form is central to this narrative animation, which is not dominated by linear structure. She expresses this virtuosity in various mediums such as drawing, painting, graphics, photography, installations, video and theatre productions. Her subjects continually bear witness to firm social commitment to the problems of modern India involving nationalism, neo-colonialism, feminism and ecology. Video holds an exceptional place within this wide-range of media categories. It is still rarely used in India by modern artists as an independent medium, although it is used for documentation. Malani used video in this way for her work 'City of Desires' (1992) to record a temporary installation in gallery Chemould in Bombay and for 'Medea material' (1994) from the play 'Medea'.
– Johan Pijnappel
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Camera: Alok Upadhyay, Editing: Nandini Bedi, Production: Max Mueller / Bhavan Bombay
Nalini Malani ° 1946, Karachi (Pakistan)
Lives and works in Bombay (India)
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