Balancing Act

HD split-screen video installation 10 min

Across a split screen, a pair of female feet walk the coloured lines marked out on the floor of a sports hall, tracing the boundaries of the basketball or badminton courts. Shot from a low angle the viewer is never allowed to see any other part of the artist, dislocating her from the scene.

Taking inspiration from historical mapping and the origins of sports rules, Nina questions what it means to be in between, to cross physical and mental borders. The accompanying music composed by Oliver Barrett echoes the national anthems from Sweden, Denmark, Sri Lanka and Britain. They hint at Nina’s migratory history while the text reveals personal anecdotes and internal negotiations of cultural hybridity.

Balancing Act is a disorientating experience, questioning the rigidity and arbitrariness of systems we take for granted, the maps and borders, how these may be negotiated and how we might fall between.