Cleansing examines the violent notion of “purifying” individuals—removing politically undesirable identities, beliefs, or skin tones to render them acceptable within a dominant order. In the video, participants are blasted with high-pressure water jets, their bodies darkened with pigment. White figures then scrub them with soap, while uniformed police officers stand by passively. As the pigments wash away, color drips and pools onto the large canvas beneath their bodies, recording the act in real time.
The installation extends this action into the exhibition space. The same 400 × 800 cm canvas on which the performers stood—absorbing pigment, water, and residue—is later suspended 20 cm from the wall. Transformed into a large-scale painting, it becomes a physical trace of the event: a loose, breathing surface that carries the memory of the ritual.
What appears as purification is, in reality, a deliberate act of erasure. Yet the stains remain, visual testimony to coercion, ideological pressure, and forced conformity. They insist on the presence of what official narratives attempt to erase, making the invisible visible and giving form to histories violently suppressed.
Video installation views
Video stills
Details:
- One-channel video installation
- Suspended canvas
- Dim.: (450 × 800 cm)
- Dur.: 04:30 min
- 4K digital | stereo | 16:9
- Prod. co.: Woodpecker
- Dir.: Sam Shingler
- Sound des.: Humina
- Dop & edit: Martin Jäger
- C. QM – Qatar Museums, Doha, QA