Having studied History before turning to Visual Art, I find the question of 'legitimate' history compelling. During my time studying in Weimar in 2006, I was struck by how one version of history was presented as more ‘right’ than another. Figures like Goethe and Schiller are viewed as true representatives of German culture, while the Third Reich is treated as an aberration, a period which has no organic connection to the corpus of German history.

This led me to use prosthesis as a metaphor. It seems that the Nazi period is treated like an artificial extension, with no organic connection to the 'body' of German history. In exploring this uneasy relationship between pasts, I became interested in the power of the Hitler moustache as a symbol of the era.

In an attempt to explore these concepts of organic connection and legitimacy I developed a video piece involving a slug that is initially positioned as a moustache. During the course of the video the slug moves from its position, explores the contours of my face and finally escapes to my hair. Although the moustache reference is clear at first, the passage of time and the slug’s movement make the meaning more ambiguous.

Thanks to: Dusica Drazic

The Naked Snail (2006)full project