Fina Ferrara V. 3
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
A-B-USED is a video-performance by Fina Ferrara which is both powerful and disturbing. The artist requested Point Pleasant Publishing post minimal images referencing the performance in order to maintain some element of surprise. A-B-USED takes us on a morbid journey of how the viewer interprets the victim of sexual assault. Through repeated dialogue and smashing of ceramics, Fina portrays the rawness and vulgarity of intrusion, complete with nudity and violent tearing of clothing.
“Please…I don’t want to”, the mantra sustained throughout the performance and echoed through a variety of scenes from bathing in the shower to purple filters of feet to struggling to walk amongst a ‘goo’ of obscene substance. In the performance, the central element would be the red paste and gel the actor struggles to walk upon as well as acts of vomiting. Through convulsions and violation, Fina Ferrara shows the intensity of her face upon pale light slowly releasing the intruding substance within her mouth. The ‘gel’ represents primordial invasion of a woman’s personal body as she is violated by the unrelenting intruder.
This violent and aggressive video-performance only runs for three minutes and twenty seven seconds, but feels longer due to the prolonged anticipation of events along with the deranged imagery. Through sustainment of violation, the viewer becomes provoked to relate towards the victim and becomes confronted towards a pressing issue of our time, the subjugation and cultural indifference of women to sexual violence. In light of the Jeffrey Epstein crimes and files, and seemingly endless amount of global oligarchs evading justice for their crimes for both sexual assault and human trafficking, A-B-USED is an intensely relevant project, shining illumination on an incredibly vital social concern.
However, oligarchs are not the only ones evading justice. Every day, women are sidelined by the justice system, an apparatus which very often does not take the crime of sexual assault and human trafficking seriously enough. In the performance, we are guided to inherit the victim towards an identification of ourselves. As we watch, the audience will ask themselves the self-evident statement of “I don’t want to feel this way”. Through sustainment of ominous audio and dialogue, in the middle of the performance, Fina appears to be in a stage-like setting. As if her experience as a theatrical display is meant to be tormentedly and mockingly enjoyed by the aggressor. Such a confrontational approach reminds the viewer. art is not meant to be a form of entertainment, but rather an attainment of enlightenment.
In analysis, Fina Ferrara uses performance as a vehicle for reputable reflection. Too often, art is treated as a cheap commodity rather than a tool to express important issues or relevant conceptual approaches. With A-B-USED, the artist exemplifies why performance remains at the helm of the avant-garde in contemporary discourse. Fina Ferrara’s confrontational approach and willingness to not restrain herself in conceptual conveyance is sorely needed in the visual arts today. Without restraint, art has a purist sense of communication and serves as an educational tool for deeper purpose, rather than a vehicle for instant gratification.