This hypnotic video work has two parts. The first has two women preparing themselves in a mirrored parlour, where they rub cream on their faces and upper bodies. With delicate relish they are absorbed by their own self-images, checking their appearance in the mirrors, caressing their mirrored selves. The two women are identical twins. Both seem oblivious of each other, yet small gestures show they are aware that their narcissistic space may well be interrupted. Their gestures, refracted through the mirrors in the scene, guard their own space and bodies, as though to reassure it is still there. In enacting the processes of preparation for a performance, the gestures and poses of making-up are made to show that preparation is itself a suite of scenes of display and posture; a ritual of beauty in the making, of “becoming.” The tarnished patina of the mirrors taints their skin as though to show that time is of the essence in beauty. As the camera moves around the room, it closes in onto the faces of the two women who finish their dress with lipstick. Finally, the twins both pull on what look like home made baklavas, demonstrating that getting ready is a form of preparation for camouflage and deception. At this point the figures merge and metamorphose into an insect-like pattern, butterfly wings, transporting the viewer and the twins into the second scene of the video. - David Bate
The Martin sisters were born in the Rhône Valley in Switzerland. They studied at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and now live in Brussels and Lyon. Using their own lives as the starting point for performative investigations, they integrate in their installations/presentations different media such as drawing, soundtracks, embroidery, art history images, painting, photography, sculpture and video; the text, narrated or projected, remains the main element of their performances.
In their scripts and performances, feelings are mercilessly probed, tracked down, disrupted and dissected. They speak in a mix of Swiss French, Belgian, French and English. The language is rich, wavering, elliptical…’ . They invent multiple identities that enter into their narratives.
Their texts have been published and their performances presented at ENS in Lyon; Panthéon-Sorbonne, Fondation Ricard, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Centre Culturel Suisse et Centre Pompidou, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Metz; actOral, Marseille; L’Escale du Livre, Bordeaux; Halles de Schaerbeek, Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brigittines and Iselp, La Bellone, Brussels; Ferme-Asile, Sion and Théâtre les Halles, Sierre, Switzerland.
Since 2008 they have presented episodes of an on-going performative series titled ‘Patrick’ in museums, art institutions, contemporary art centres and galleries.
'PATRICK 13 dramolets’ a book surveying the entire ‘Patrick’ series will be published by art&fiction in the collection ‘ShushLarry’ early 2021.
Their work is included in collection in Switzerland, Germany, UK, France and Belgium.
