The rite of spring is a three screen video installation with its roots in the medium of dance for camera. The work uses the Stravinsky score the rite of spring but does not follow the narrative of Nijinsky’s originally ballet of the early 20th centaury. Instead this installation observes a violent incident occur in a domestic setting.

As the victim, a man who lays naked on the kitchen floor is brutalised and manipulated by his aggressor, we only can see the aggressor’s feet, torso and hands. The audience are led to believe that a male is committing these violent actions. Later it is revealed that the masculine aggressor is in fact an androgynous woman.

The action takes place between the three screens and often leaves the screens full view; this creates tension as the spectator is often left to imagine what is happening whilst listening to the strings of Stravinsky’s violent music score. The work takes form in two parts. Part one we observe the aggressor brutalising the human body and also violently filleting fish, conjuring the thought of the human body being treated as a piece of meat. The second part observes the roles reverse as the victim becomes the dominant force and torments his aggressor in an act of revenge.

This section can be seen as the battle with guilt the aggressor undertakes after he/she has committed a wicked action. The victim becomes the aggressor in the aggressors mind and guilt drives her to a self-flagellating dance until death.