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PREVIEW: MARY REID KELLEY @ THE ICA

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AES_MaryReidKelley(Sisyphus)

What if you could dive into an image that takes you back in time, allowing you to experience history as it really happened? Well, it turns out, you can! … Sorta.

Starting July 31 through the end of October, the Institute of Contemporary Art will exhibit Mary Reid Kelley’s short films: narrative videos based mostly on how female roles have changed throughout time.

Reid Kelley creates all her sets, costumes, and props. Everything is black and white and resembles a drawing come to life. The artist is completely disguised in each of her videos, playing the narrator along with other characters. Wigs and costumes camouflage her, but what really resonates with viewers are the eyes of the characters.

Blacked-out eyes contrasted with pale white skin create a creepy, comic strip vibe.

The satirical videos banteringly hone in on heavy developments for women. In Sadie the Saddest Sadist, the viewer is transported to World War I, where a woman working in a munitions factory gets the clap after meeting a sexy sailor. In The Syphilis of Sisyphus, we follow a pregnant prostitute from Paris with a love for cosmetics who ends up in an asylum. Priapus Agonistes is Reid Kelley’s newest creation, in which Priapus, a god of fertility known for being well-endowed, is portrayed as a volleyball player.

Video still from Priapus Agonistes, 2013

In total there are four videos which Reid Kelley created between 2008 and 2013. In the more recent ones, Reid Kelley’s husband contributed to his wife’s talents by digitally assembling the elements shot on green screen.

Aside from the pun-filled comedy present in each, the films all share a deeper theme: the human desire to escape the roles assigned to them.

Whether it be religion or sex appointing these roles, Reid Kelley is not afraid to challenge them.

MARY REID KELLEY

WEDNESDAY 7.31.13-SUNDAY 10.27.13
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART
100 NORTHERN AVE.
BOSTON
TIMES VARY/ALL AGES/$15
@ICAINBOSTON
ICABOSTON.ORG





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