The (Un)Holy Trinity
Laura Jean-Haley
‘The (Un)Holy Trinity’ explores female objectification through a Biblical lens. The three-channel film installation draws inspiration from three legendary ‘fallen’ women: Eve, Lilith and Salome, who through their supposedly ‘unnatural’ acts of defiance, aggression, or desire for autonomy, have been demonised to serve as a warning as to how destructive female sexuality can be if left unchecked.
The three-filmed performances seek to not only explore these women in their moment of defiance, but, more importantly, to challenge the demonised perceptions of the so-called ‘unnatural’ woman. Each performance celebrates these women for their supposedly ‘unwomanly’ ways by drawing upon the moment each woman asserts her will, to reveal her true inner strength and agency in order to defy the traditional and suffocating roles that have long been allotted to them. By extension, the films seek question why these ingrained perceptions of powerful women as shameful or demonic - views that deny female strength and sexuality - still exist today.
While ‘The (Un)Holy Trinity’ was originally intended to be exhibited as a three channel film installation, it can (and has been) exhibited within the more traditional cinema exhibition environment as a three film series.
The (Un)Holy Trinity
Laura Jean-Haley
‘The (Un)Holy Trinity’ explores female objectification through a Biblical lens. The three-channel film installation draws inspiration from three legendary ‘fallen’ women: Eve, Lilith and Salome, who through their supposedly ‘unnatural’ acts of defiance, aggression, or desire for autonomy, have been demonised to serve as a warning as to how destructive female sexuality can be if left unchecked.
The three-filmed performances seek to not only explore these women in their moment of defiance, but, more importantly, to challenge the demonised perceptions of the so-called ‘unnatural’ woman. Each performance celebrates these women for their supposedly ‘unwomanly’ ways by drawing upon the moment each woman asserts her will, to reveal her true inner strength and agency in order to defy the traditional and suffocating roles that have long been allotted to them. By extension, the films seek question why these ingrained perceptions of powerful women as shameful or demonic - views that deny female strength and sexuality - still exist today.
While ‘The (Un)Holy Trinity’ was originally intended to be exhibited as a three channel film installation, it can (and has been) exhibited within the more traditional cinema exhibition environment as a three film series.
SYNOPSIS :
Award-winning visual artist Laura Jean Healey produces digital film installations that examine the cinematic experience and the role of the cameras gaze. Having received a First Class BA Honours from Central Saint Martins, where she specialised in 16mm film installation and was mentored by BSC Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, Healey informs her creative practice by working within the film industry.
Inspired by her extensive experience and technical understanding, Healey’s work examines the objectification of the female form, the cameras inherently voyeuristic gaze, and the desire it raises within the spellbound spectator. In particular, Healey combines the use of digital film technologies - including digital high-speed filming and holographic film projection - with the romanticised aesthetic of the Pre-Raphaelite movement to create large film installations that seek to both engage and seduce her audience. By playing to and embodying the visual language used within traditional cinema, Healey seeks to not only challenge the male gaze, but more importantly, to highlight and question the way in which women have and continue to be objectified within art.
To this end, Healey produced the very first holographic film installation to be filmed entirely underwater in slow motion. The Siren explored the sexual clichés attached to the perception of the ultimate femme fatale and sought to finally give a powerful voice to her subject. The installation premiered at Kinetica Art Fair (2012) and was awarded the Passion For Freedom Gold Film Award (2013) for its ‘artist value and powerful visual message embodying the freedom of women’, and the MAMA’s Award (2012) for its ‘innovative artistic design concept’. It was also exhibited as part of the Artist Programme at the Aesthetic Short Film Festival (2012) and Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris (2012).
Recently, Healey collaborated with Sedition - a digital online gallery platform - to produce the multichannel film installation, ‘The (Un)Holy Trinity’. The three film series drew upon Biblical Apocrypha to explore the notion of the ‘fallen woman’ and was awarded first place for the YICCA International Art Prize 20/21.
Healey is a member of Art in FLUX, a charitable organisation committed to furthering the development of the media arts community in the UK and has been profiled in elephant.art, Photomonitor Magazine, and wired.co.uk.