Set in the arch-American "home movie" context of a sunny suburban yard, Rosler's early Super-8 film Backyard Economy I documents the products of mundane domestic chores. Silently depicting scenes of laundry hanging out to dry in a suburban backyard, Rosler points up the labor that allows leisure...
Set in the arch-American "home movie" context of a sunny suburban yard, Rosler's early Super-8 film Backyard Economy ll (Diane Germain Mowing) documents the mundane activities of a woman going about her domestic chores. Quietly depicting this figure in the tasks of mowing and watering the grass,...
"This short film was intended to create a colour field painting based on the flower fields that provided the living for so many, mostly undocumented, workers in the area. When the camera closes in on the beautiful colour-striped hillside, the laborers in the field can be seen. Later, in a run up...
Description
In these three short, early Super-8 films, Rosler reflects on the relationship between labor and leisure. Set in the arch-American "home movie" context of a sunny suburban yard, Backyard Economy I and II document the mundane activities of a woman going about her domestic chores. Quietly depicting this figure in the tasks of mowing and watering the grass, hanging laundry to dry, and keeping her son company, Rosler points up the labor that allows leisure, and interrogates the "economy" that creates her role. In the film Flower Fields, Rosler creates a color field painting from the vivid flower-growing fields along Highway 5 in California, which provide a living for the many, most undocumented, workers in the area.
Exhibition & Distribution Conditions
This is a video transfer of works initially shot on film. This is best shown as a projection, to reflect the original medium.
Projection Installation Checklist & Guidelines
