Clara Ursitti
Clara Ursitti, Tail, 2003, video
Clara Ursitti’s practice prioritises the sense of smell. For Tail, she has spent the past year exploring one of the largest and most spectacular cemetaries in Britain: the Glasgow Necropolis. Frequented by dog walkers and tourists during the day, at night it provides shelter for the homeless. Located in the East End of the city centre and entirely encircled by buildings, no one knows how wild deer came to inhabit the cemetery or how many there are. Navigating the Necropolis at night, using an infrared night vision camera, Ursitti literally shoots ‘blind’. Unable to see what is in front of her, she uses the limited vision of the camera viewfinder, scent and sound clues to track the deer. Far from being a city of the dead, she reveals the Necropolis to be teeming with life. The final video is accompanied by the scent of deer musk.
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