by Janis Rafa, 2015, 3''
Video 2K. Courtesy of Martin van Zomeren gallery and the artist
The work of Janis Rafa deals with notions of mortality, mourning and melancholy of nature. In the film, an almond tree is vigorously shaken for ten seconds by the violent enforcement of a machine. As a result the tree’s leaves fall prematurely. The act is captured by a high-speed camera, filming in 2000fps. The work becomes a metaphore of man’s brutal intervention on nature and of the caducity of life.