Embracing the ephemeral: lost and recovered video artworks by Elaine Shemilt from the 70s and 80s.

Leuzzi, Laura

Abstract

This article explores Elaine Shemilt's video artworks from the 1970s and early 1980s. Generally known as a printmaker, Shemilt started to use video in 1974 as part of her installation and performance work. Shemilt aimed to use video - a relatively new medium at the time – as a performative element within her installations. Since that time, her artistic practice has conveyed feminist themes as well as the re-elaboration of intimate and personal experiences. She destroyed her 1970s videotapes in 1984, considering those tapes as part of ephemeral installations. Photographs taken during the shootings and a series of prints are the final artwork from those projects, and act today as the last remaining documentation of those videos. Only two of Shemilt's videotapes from the early 1980s: "Doppelgänger" and "Women Soldiers" - are still available today. They were both remastered during the REWIND project (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council) in 2011. This article, which is based on documents, extant videos and interviews collected during the EWVA European Women's Video Art from the 70s and 80s project (also funded by AHRC), discusses and retraces Shemilt's early video artworks.

Citation

LEUZZI, L. 2016. Embracing the ephemeral: lost and recovered video artworks by Elaine Shemilt from the 70s and 80s. Arabeschi: rivista internazionale di studi su letteratura e visualità [online], 7, pages 86-98. Available from: http://www.arabeschi.it/embracing-the-ephemeral-lost-and-recovered-video-artworks-by-elaine-shemilt-from-70s-80s/

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 9, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 9, 2021
• Journal: Arabeschi: rivista internazionale di studi su letteratura e visualità
• Electronic ISSN: 2282-0876
• Publisher: Università di Catania
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Pages: 86-98
• Keywords: Video art; Audiovisual installations; Performance art; Women artists; Art and feminism; Great Britain
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1374980
• Publisher URL: http://www.arabeschi.it/embracing-the-ephemeral-lost-and-recovered-video-artworks-by-elaine-shemilt-from-70s-80s/