Excess Flesh

A surreal post-apocalyptic drama by Patrick Kennelly inspired by the clipping. album “Splendor & Misery”

This short-form documentary video shot in South Sudan, is both a work of and a commentary upon cultural exploitation. It is a self-consciously “cinematic” recreation of a journey through a land plagued by the ghosts of colonialism and the present anxiety of conflicting religious and political agendas - both of which can often seem one and the same. Evoking a surreal sense of place, both very present and very distant, the video depicts the hazy lines between notions of “foreign aid” “missionary practice” and “colonialism,” and shows the ways history has of recycling itself. The essayistic, experimental nature of the work is inspired by the politically charged silent-era montage of Dovzhenko, Vertov, and Eisenstein and the later impressionistic film and video works of Marker and Godard.