Christine Rebet

In the Soldier’s Head

In the Soldier’s Head by Christine Rebet evokes the traumas of war through the prism of the hallucinations of a soldier. Inspired by the artist’s father, a soldier in Algeria who then suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, the video depicts the delusions flowing from a mind ravaged by violence: a vision grown from the inside out. Like a mirage amidst a blank, desert expanse, specters are conjured as the inanimate comes to life. Whirring machines sputter, gears turn and levers crank as ceaselessly firing synapses of a hyperactive psyche pour out. The helmet, like the soldier’s head itself, becomes a crucible for burning delusions fed by the violated land: no more than a vessel for wildly-flowing cerebrospinal fluid impulses. Rebet’s inks literally dance on page and screen, morphing as liquid-fueled illusions, only to wash away, as an oasis vanishes.