Dibutadess

Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder writes on the origins of painting in the encyclopedia Natural History. The legend tells the story of Dibutades, a young Corinth woman who was heartbroken to farewell her lover. Regnault depicts this scene in his painting The Origin of Painting: Dibutades Tracing the Portrait of a Shepherd. The woman reclines, facing away from her lover to trace his profile on the side of a tomb with a coal. As she draws, it is as if she cannot bear to see him, knowing she may lose him. She fears her memory will fail her and so attempts to fix the soft features of her beloved’s face. Whether this painting depicts the origins of art is not important. At the core of this anecdote is the fear forgetting. Art is a mechanism with which we attempt to hold onto the
Specifically the manipulation of the home movies in O’Donnell’s work strengthens the feeling that we need help to contain precious moments. Two techniques are used to manipulate the footage: rewinding and slowing down. They both imply a yearning to hold onto a moment. In Rewind 27.09.1994 a child ducks and weaves beneath the metal bars of a merry-go-round. The footage is in reverse and is obviously cherished childhood footage. The use of a old home video disrupts the present moment, by anchoring the viewer to a moment that has passed. This creates a conflicting feeling of deep sadness alongside the knowledge that the wheel will continue spinning back on itself, in a hypnotic cycle forever, even when we avert our eyes. Similarly, Slow Beach 12.09.1994 is forcing us to linger on a moment. The footage is slowed down to an almost painful pace. This technique is a forewarning that this moment will not last. With this comes a moment of clarity. Slowing down edits away the complexity of mortality and focuses us albeit briefly, on the most meaningful