The piece represents the journey of two sisters from Louisiana, “down by the Mississippi”, who are sent by their family – “mum and dad and both our brothers” - on a seven-city, seven-year journey to make enough money to build a small house.
The sisters are imagined as “a double figure under a single shawl or cloak”. Both are called Anna. Anna 1, whose “head is on straight” is the entrepreneur type, and Anna 11, “the one with the looks”, is the artist, or as Brecht states, “the article sold”. The Family is a chorus intoning a running commentary on human assets, commodity prices, risk avoidance strategies and likely dividends. They invert the biblical imperative to avoid sin and be good with the capitalist imperative to exploit sin and make money.
The seven deadly sins are the ’pride’, ’greed’, ’lust’, ’envy’, ’gluttony’, ’wrath’ and ’sloth’.
The work continues to be the mirror of our modern society, as its ultimate goal of material satisfaction.
Mixed installation
1 -channel installation with sound
The Seven Deadly Sins, 1988
HD-video / Stereo / Duration 30’49 min.
Installation view
Part of work