Restoration

Restoration and Repairing the Body were both produced in the restoration labs at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2002. The two pieces, also from the larger Stills series, were shot simultaneously from different angles. For the past five years I have been using two cameras on most of my shoots in order to take two angles at once. Most often one of the angles is the one I have planned, and the second is an experimental one that is decided upon at the time of shooting. Usually only one of the two angles is chosen for exhibition, however, these two seem to work together, revealing different parts of a single scene. The woman lying on the table works in the restoration labs. When I arrived at the labs to shoot she was working meticulously on cleaning and repainting damaged sections of a small painting. While I often dress the models who appear in my videos, she was already wearing a pair of interesting 19th century boots that I decided to use. The small key visible on a block of foam is the tool used to pull the many buttons through the buttonholes in order to fasten and unfasten the boots. At over 12 minutes each, these pieces are among the longest of my Stills videos. The main reason for this is logistical. I quickly realized that if the models posed for less than 10 minutes, I could usually ask them to pose a second time, whereas if the poses were longer they would be too fatigued to hold the pose a second time.