The Rabbit and the Teasel
2014
Video, 00:52:40.
Materials: digital file
Collection: Courtesy of the Artist .
Two years after settling in Ireland, Els Dietvorst started work on the web documentary The Black Lamb. Over a three-year period, she recorded fragments of her new environment, and that of local figures. The short testimonies of TJ Butler in The Black Lamb lay the foundation for a bigger project: The Rabbit and the Teasel. In this full-length film, Dietvorst transforms Butler's narrative into a modern rural drama, in which the raw reality of a rainy year drives the farmer to despair.
Els Dietvorst appeals to the collective memory of the local community. Her fellow villagers tell their stories, film and act. Fiction and autobiographical elements are interwoven into a lyrical tale that drags the viewer into a world of beauty, death and decay.
Written and directed by Els Dietvorst
