Partisan x

Dual-channel video
2023-2024

         

Partisan X juxtaposes two videos: one featuring Joey, a transmasculine individual, and the other showcasing a sculpture revealed and submerged by Venice’s tides. Joey’s portrait emerged from a collaborative, deeply considered process between us, marked by thoughtful discussions about his comfort with his image. During filming, Joey read a poem I wrote about queer liberation, but we ultimately chose to highlight the moments in which he appeared most at peace, embodying a space between rest and waking, dream and reality.

In contrast, the Venice sculpture, La Partigiana, designed by Augusto Murer (1922–1985), serves as a monument to the womxn who fought against the Nazis during World War II. This statue represents the second attempt to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the war’s end.

The original statue, commissioned to sculptor and former partisan Leoncillo Leonardi (1915–1968), was a vivid neo-Cubist ceramic depiction of a fierce and resolute womxn combatant. It was destroyed in 1961 by a neo-fascist group.

Murer's second statue was intended to float, but due to technological limitations and inadequate materials, along with increasing wave motion, it lost this ability almost immediately. The neglect in correcting this error, alongside the depiction of a woman bound by ropes, reflects a shift in perception—from warriors to martyrs. This imagery also evokes historical methods of persecution against womxn, such as drowning or binding to a wheel.

By collating these two images, Partisan X explores authenticity and agency in portraiture over time. By prioritising trust and comfort, the project challenges tokenization, inviting viewers to reconsider how we frame and honour each other’s stories across decades and centuries.