The world is full of things we can’t see, even if they occur right in front of our eyes. With his surreal, often grotesque, sometimes unsettling, staged photographs, Joel-Peter Witkin creates a visual language for them. The world is also full of things we deliberately choose not to see. The socio-politically engaged figurative painter Jerome Witkin urges us with historically charged pictures to look at them. Joel and Jerome are identical twins but they could not be any more different; at least this is the view taken by the two artists who, for the larger part of their lives, went separate ways. Filmmaker Trisha Ziff, in her fascinating portrait, interviews close relatives and co-workers of the dissimilar brothers but the major portion of the film’s time is reserved for the Witkins’ own storytelling. While Joel and Jerome talk about their differences, the camera observes the two faces in close-up and in great detail.As one listens to Joel and Jerome pointing at their dissimilarities, one instinctively tries to seek out their similarities. Ziff subtly uses the juxtaposition of the frequently opposing visual and verbal “stories”. In doing so, she creates not only an intimate artists portrait but also a brilliant filmic reflection on seeing and perception: In search of likeness one repeatedly stumbles upon differences, in face of the differences one often is surprised by likeness.
And yet, Ziff’s film supports the lasting impression that the work of both artists is driven by an equally deep-felt humanism. So, at the end of the day, the remarkable brothers may well be similar – but they are still nowhere near identical.
Angelika Betzold (for DOKUARTS)
MX 2018, Director: Trisha Ziff, Camera: Claudio Rocha; Felipe Pérez Burchard,
Sound: Pablo Lach, Percival Argüero, Editor: Jorge Márquez, Producer: Isabel del
Río, Music: Jacobo Lieberman, 93‘ · DCP, Original w/ English subtitles,
European Premiere
Sun 14.10. at 6 pm
WITKIN & WITKIN: https://www.facebook.com/events/534008883719425/
