Video with sound, 17 min, 2024
Featuring: Ben Groh, Naomi Asa
Second camera: Milo Hume
Original poem and recording by Olga Gorpenko
A man is dancing by himself on a Brooklyn roof, exhausted he collapses. He recalls being held by a woman as she repeatedly submerges him underwater. Still in her arms, he speaks a poem of addiction and the call to give in to intense pleasure, aware that surrender might be fatal. The film is based on the poem The Call of Morphinism (Зов Морфинизма) by Russian Olga Gorpenko (b. 1968), written in the 90’s. Gorpenko was suffering from drug addiction most her life, and worked as a narcologist and psychologist. She drowned in 2011.
Prophetic Poppies was first shown as part of the solo exhibition Tongue Tied Diver curated by Oleg Mindiak, at All Street Gallery, New York. For the exhibition page on All Street website and the press release, click here.
