Betty Bloomsfield

Mabe Bethônico and Hannah Stewart, 2019. Developed in the frame of programme Effondrement des Alpes, 2018-2021 at ESAAA, France, in collaboration with the Centre de la Photographie Genève.

Betty Bloomsfield was constructed in the frame of a workshop at the Théâtre de Marionnette de Genève (TMG) in 2018. She comes to life the year later, with Hannah Stewart, who gives her voice and movement. Her character tries to come to terms with the transformation of Earth's system in the Capitalocene. Her own understandings are both serious and affirmative, as well as doubtful, and she formulates many questions, trying to reconcile with what she understands of geological and environmental transformations. She refers to a sort of disfiguration, also present in her own features, recognizing displacement and discomfort with some issues. She says, "Look at the way we produce a monstrous amount of trash, debris, and dross. Oddments and dregs, weaved together with junk and droppings... We are the beast that is never full."

Her disfiguration mirrors her somewhat disjointed sentences. She says: "It's difficult to visualize that we are all rooted in a common clay...  Isn't it strange? Bound together with minerals, animals and botanic beings. What sort of cotton is in our eyes?"

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A series of three photographs intitled Théâtre de Montagne and a poster are also amongst contributions to the research project and exhibited at MAC Lyon and CPG Genève.

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[2019] VIDEO, 15'. Images, marionnette and text: Mabe Bethônico.

Manipulation, voice and sound editing: Hannah Stewart. Video edition: Victor Galvão

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Effondrement des Alpes - Inventer un Nouveau Patrimoine https://www.esaaa.fr/eda/presentation/

My participation generated multiple forms and events: workshops, exhibitions, conferences, courses.  Please refer to the presentation of the project here.