Lina Bertucci – Dark Wave
(1958, Milwaukee IL)
(1958, Milwaukee IL)
"Dark Wave", is a a site specific two channel video installation by artist-photographer, Lina Bertucci, that portrays youth culture in the vampire 'dark wave' New York scene, made up of adolescents obsessed by the myth of vampires.
In her previous work, the artist photographically investigated body art and it's implications on individualism, collective communion and empowerment. Through the exploration of the world of tattoos, Lina Bertucci discovered how the vampire archetype has entered the collective unconsious of many cultures: a metaphor for the clash between the forces of life and death, of good and evil, it represents the collective fears of sex, death and the desire of eternal youth. The myth of the vampire is also present in Christian iconography through the symbolic use of blood, the ideal of resurrection and sacrifice.
Lina Bertucci's work reveals how this peculiar myth encloses and manifests the most profound fears and the most obscure desires of many young americans, playing on their primeval anxiety of loosing their vital energy. Furthermore catching the image of young "vampires" becomes fascinating because historically the figure of the vampire exists only partially since it's not reflected in mirrors. For "Dark Wave", the artist asked some teenagers encountered in New York clubs to simply look into the camera for approximately 2 minutes with very little instruction other than to fix the gaze at the viewer behind the lens. The power of their gaze is so strong that the result is an uncanny role reversal where the viewer becomes the one that is threateningly viewed. Thus the portrait of the vampire becomes a reflection of ourselves. This adolescent obsession for vampires is related to the recent resurgence in films, novels and TV series of this myth that certainly shows a status of loss of ideals and values of a generation that is not able to deal with the complex requests of the society that surrounds it. Vampire culture has become, for example, a symbol of the outsiders (True Blood), of the representation of the forbidden fruit and the social idea of acceptance (Twilight series, Near Dark, The Lost Boys), it represents the moral struggle of its own nature (Interview with the Vampire) and the process of ageing (Hunger).
Quoting Lina Bertucci: "As a photographer investigating fringe society, dark wave culture reflects a collective darkness – an aspect of the psyche, the shadow nature, seldom visibly observed. The work itself is the product of my research, through the eye of a camera, for that which reconnects the self and the whole. Emerging from the dark caverns of this subterranean culture, one comes to see a much deeper awakening within our own human nature. What on the surface may seem like a group of young Goth kids trying to be different, find acceptance, dabble in the forbidden or seek individuality is in essence a quest that, sometimes unbeknownst to oneself, is at the heart of our collective need for an internal touchstone, self acceptance and love. It also taps into the vampiric nature of the power struggles inherent in the most intimate of human relations (lover, friend, parent, sibling and child) to the most public (political, religious and financial institutions).
On a personal level, as a photographer, it is through the camera that I am compelled to look at the human condition in such a way that is impossible with the naked eye. The camera lens enables me to unearth my unconscious to capture an image and reflect it back to a viewer, not only in the hopes that they will see "the other" but perhaps, that they will see the other in themselves".
Lina Bertucci's work reveals how this peculiar myth encloses and manifests the most profound fears and the most obscure desires of many young americans, playing on their primeval anxiety of loosing their vital energy. Furthermore catching the image of young "vampires" becomes fascinating because historically the figure of the vampire exists only partially since it's not reflected in mirrors. For "Dark Wave", the artist asked some teenagers encountered in New York clubs to simply look into the camera for approximately 2 minutes with very little instruction other than to fix the gaze at the viewer behind the lens. The power of their gaze is so strong that the result is an uncanny role reversal where the viewer becomes the one that is threateningly viewed. Thus the portrait of the vampire becomes a reflection of ourselves. This adolescent obsession for vampires is related to the recent resurgence in films, novels and TV series of this myth that certainly shows a status of loss of ideals and values of a generation that is not able to deal with the complex requests of the society that surrounds it. Vampire culture has become, for example, a symbol of the outsiders (True Blood), of the representation of the forbidden fruit and the social idea of acceptance (Twilight series, Near Dark, The Lost Boys), it represents the moral struggle of its own nature (Interview with the Vampire) and the process of ageing (Hunger).
Quoting Lina Bertucci: "As a photographer investigating fringe society, dark wave culture reflects a collective darkness – an aspect of the psyche, the shadow nature, seldom visibly observed. The work itself is the product of my research, through the eye of a camera, for that which reconnects the self and the whole. Emerging from the dark caverns of this subterranean culture, one comes to see a much deeper awakening within our own human nature. What on the surface may seem like a group of young Goth kids trying to be different, find acceptance, dabble in the forbidden or seek individuality is in essence a quest that, sometimes unbeknownst to oneself, is at the heart of our collective need for an internal touchstone, self acceptance and love. It also taps into the vampiric nature of the power struggles inherent in the most intimate of human relations (lover, friend, parent, sibling and child) to the most public (political, religious and financial institutions).
On a personal level, as a photographer, it is through the camera that I am compelled to look at the human condition in such a way that is impossible with the naked eye. The camera lens enables me to unearth my unconscious to capture an image and reflect it back to a viewer, not only in the hopes that they will see "the other" but perhaps, that they will see the other in themselves".
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