Recent Films  
A selection of film stills and critiques by Katherine Araniello
Sick 2008
(4 minutes 7 seconds)		 This piece is about the distinction between being sick and being disabled and the false conflation of the two.

I was reminded of this when I watched a television programme where they were discussing the inclusion of 'fit & healthy' contestants who are not very thin entering a Miss World contest. So I started to think about the idea of 'fit & healthy' and how that relates to role models and disability. I was reminded of the fact that many people associate disability with illness and I wanted to make a work addressing this.

(text continued on Art Review and You Tube sites.)

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The Interview 2008
(13 minutes 4 seconds)		 The piece is a mockery -- send up of those hideous trashy morning mainstream radio programmes that churn out balderdash -- and become a recognizable drone in the background.

However in my radio interview if the listener does actually tune in -- they will be lured into a mixture of joviality contrasted with dark subversive humour.

This artwork was inspired from my experience of being invited to participate in a live radio interview to do with art and disability issues.
This piece, entitled, The Interview, is constructed from the questions and remarks made by the original radio interviewer, but the responses of the two interviewees, Katherine and Esta, are entirely fictional. The two characters are played by Katherine Araniello and Sean Donaghey and are products of my imagination.

The Interview was aired in May 2007 on Bob & Roberta Smith's radio programme 'Make Your Own Damn Music'.

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The Interview June 2005
(17 minutes)

I was one of the artists selected to speak at the Common Sense conference (a gathering of contemporary disabled artists who presented and discussed their work). In response I presented a video in which I am interviewed about my work by an image conscious girl in pink, (Daddy got her the job, you know how it works…) All the stereotypes are intact as the interviewer preens herself in the monitor, checking her image, saying yes and no - she hopes in the right place. She pretends to listen to my answers to her increasingly banal and offensive questions. Although the piece is humorous to watch and tongue in cheek, there are serious implications for disabled artists, commenting on the media’s refusal to take artists with disabilities seriously. Finally the interviewer asks “You don't have hope?”!

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Video Clip
 
Pop Video
'I Like That' July 2004
(4 minutes 22 seconds)
In this video I have reconstructed myself within the parameters of a pop video. I do not aspire to be the next Madonna or Britney Spears but making the pop video for me was an opportunity to prove that it was possible to use myself (someone who is physically opposite to the majority perception of a physically aesthetic attractive mobile body) in a pop video. It was important not to model myself on existing divas but to create an individual persona that could be integrated with my own physicality and the dance track.

The video is a parody of the current sexed-up pop industry, using myself and an anorexic armless mannequin to fill the screen against a bold vibrant backdrop.

Video Clip 1

Video Clip 2





 

Jennifer
Jan 2004
(8 minutes 11 seconds)
(

The video “Jennifer” is based on the tragic representation of disability that we are constantly reminded of from media representation. I have used this as a starting point to produce “Jennifer” an androgynous looking woman who uses an electric wheelchair but also walks around. Jennifer is represented in the banal activity of feeding the ducks. It is ambiguous for the viewer as to whether or not she really is disabled and it is left to the viewer to decide that. The peaceful surroundings of the film present an idyllic tranquil setting which corresponds well with the leisurely pace of the editing. There is no spoken narrative instead the story is told by Jennifer’s actions and the movement of the camera. Tragic soundtrack accompanies Jennifer. Some of the music is taken from films to enhance the sorrowful moment whilst one track is a song by Donovan that has been edited to enhance its lyrics “Jennifer…longs for what she lacks”. “Jennifer” questions our need to stereotype others by juxtaposing a cocktail of social issues such as disability, difference, gender identity and normality.
Video Clip
 
Shoot Jan 2004,
(1 minute 20 seconds)
 Shoot and Jennifer run together in a loop. Shoot uses the same aesthetics as Jennifer which results in a fast-paced digital montage. The flashing photography of individual images presents a glamorous representation of a shiny commercially viable product. On closer inspection the shiny metal and curved contours of the product may not represent what one might expect.






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