Twin screen

I have explored the theme of personal and political (public) and their connection to me. I have filmed myself in a bathroom, a very personal space, where people don’t see you and in the city, an open space where you meet loads of people every moment. I act and move different in both places, I tried to film the different atmospheres and show them side by side.

I have used a song called ‘Do you know?’ by a Russian singer MakSim, I used to listen to this song a lot, when I was younger and it really resonated with me. I initially wanted to use a recording of my younger self singing, but i then thought that it was lacking that political / public side. Therefore I have decided to use a very popular song, that everyone knew and sang at the time, making it very public. Me being on of the people listening to that song, it somehow felt very personal to me when I’ve listened to it on my own; but the same thing happened to many other people and that’s one of many examples how people personalise things, which are very public.

I have recorded myself saying the lyrics of the song putting the full meaning, which it had to me at the time. I wanted to transfer the feeling of the song playing in my head, while i say the lyrics out loud to myself. MakSim sings how she has lost the love of her life and how has to walk those roads with her heart torn apart and her feet bleeding, the roads and the loneliness in the bathroom are illustrated in my work.

I wanted to add subtitles at first, as I did in one of my earlier films, but i have then decided, that this was unnecessary, as the meaning of the song was not the important bit of the film. It was mine and i loved it and that is the reason why it was there.

After getting responses from my non-Russian speaking viewers I have decided to chance my initial decision and add subtitles, as my viewers wanted to know what the words say, otherwise it had left them guessing. So i have created a version 3 (bottom) with subtitles in the same vintage style, as my whole video.