Journey of the Invader Spirit
Journey of the Invader Spirit, 2023
Single-channel video
Duration: 15:47
Excerpt/Trailer: 04:34
Producer/Writer/Director: Mandy Morrison
Animation: Tori Porter
Music and Sound Design: Jason Charney
Participants: Jose Carlos Conceicao, Mandy Morrison, Raimundo da Silva, Charles Silva, Dete Vieira
Grupo de Capoeira Uniao, Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil, Escola Criança Feliz, Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil
Through the use of an invented creation myth, this cinematic work mines the exploitative nature of colonialism, and environmental degradations born of consumerism. Filmed in Bahia, Brazil, with local participants, a pernicious ‘Invader Spirit’ travels the land wreaking environmental havoc on the population. The Invader then gets challenged by both visible and unseen forces found in marine life, that take on the form of spiritual entities, conspiring to overwhelm the Invader, and remediate its environmental harms.
Journey of the Invader Spirit was part of a solo exhibition of the same name that took place at the Peale Center in Baltimore, Maryland in early 2023. During the run of the exhibit, the Peale hosted Robin Gunkel, PhD for a public talk on urban soil remediation, and a Capoeira workshop with instructor Justin West of the Capoeira Social Project in Baltimore.
This work was created with the support of the Sacatar Institute (Bahia, Brazil), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the Tree of Life Foundation, the Maryland State Council on the Arts, and the Puffin Foundation.
For Further Reading:
Almeida, Bira. Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form, North Atlantic Books. 1986.
Franz, Marie-Louise von, Creation Myths. Boston, Massachusetts, Shambala Publications, Inc., 1995.
Freyre, Gilberto, The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization. Alfred A. Knopf, 1971.
Grabow, Stephen, Christopher Alexander: The search for a new paradigm in architecture. Stocksfield; Boston: Oriel Press, 1983.
Horne, Gerald, The Deepest South: The United States, Brazil and the African Slave Trade. New York, London, New York University Press, 2007
Henley, Paul, Beyond Observation: A history of authorship in ethnographic film. Manchester University Press, 2020.
Jones, Amelia, Self/Image: Technology Representation and the Contemporary Subject. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Kassinger, Ruth, Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, And Just Might Save Us. Harper Collins, 2019.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2009.
Norton, Peter D., Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London England, The MIT Press, 2008.
Shusterman, Richard. Thinking Through the Body: Essays in Somaethetics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.