Memory: Record/Erase

Memory: Record/Erase

1996, India, DVD, colour, sound, 10 min.

Malani's first animation is an interpretation of The Job by Bertold Brecht. It carries the memories of an impoverished woman who had to impersonate her dead husband in order to procure his job as a night watchman. She has two small children and takes on a 'wife' to complete the disguise. After an accident her identity is discovered and she is not anymore allowed to carry on her work. Jobless she is forced to walk the darker side of life to survive.
Using a tactile technique, Malani painted directly onto glass drawing over or erasing the previous images. The work captures the ephemeral and unreliable nature of memory and identity.