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Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, The Eyes, 2020. Video; dimensions variable.
The gaze of a single eye is disembodied and multiplied into a state of frantic observation. A fleshy landscape houses the eyes implying a surreal being contained in the screen/projection where it performs its unending observing presence.
This film was captured by Lavatelli’s maternal grandfather, Thomas Little, who worked for Bell Telephone Systems. Bell took on the contract to build the Distant Early Warning detection system in Alaska in collaboration with the Canadian government in the early 1950s. Little flew to Alaska to live in a remote area while building one of the stations that would contribute to providing 2-4 hours of warning if the Soviet Union were to launch a nuclear missile at the United States. This is one of 4 film reels he captured and is the subject of a research project of Lavatelli’s along with her paternal grandfather’s role in the Manhattan Project which set the stage for the need of the DEW Line twelve years prior.
Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli is an artist-filmmaker interested in visibility, performance, and identity. Her artistic research seeks to unravel systems of storytelling and established modes of seeing in order to destabilize the feminine image and ways of perceiving the world. Lavatelli has worked with moving image for the past 20 years, from small-gauge experimental film to cinematic digital productions and has collaborated with creative people across professions on non-hierarchically produced creative projects. She has also produced dozens of short documentary films about artists and musicians for museums and non-profits around the world. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Media Studies from the University at Buffalo and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from the University of California San Diego, and has participated in various artists’ residency programs including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.