The Dark Current is a seductive and unnerving visual poem by Sãmoan Australian artist Angela Tiatia. Filmed over three years across four countries, the ambitious 17-minute video work is presented by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in partnership with the Ian Potter Cultural Trust.
Tiatia has created a hypnotic universe grounded in notions of duality. Drawing on her experience as a former professional model, Tiatia’s work seeks to disrupt colonial fantasies and myths of paradise. Natural beauty is juxtaposed against hyper-stylised femininity. In combining video game software with unscripted, yet choreographed, live-action sequences, Tiatia blurs the boundaries between the physical and digital realms. The clash of peaceful landscapes against an interwoven hyper-stylised dance sequence conjures a sense of unease and underlying chaos – disturbia underlies paradise.
An entrancing aerial shot of a Sãmoan woman (pictured) recurs throughout the piece. Adorned in luscious flowers and pink linen, the woman smiles as magenta water submerges her arms and heels. She moves her body slowly, locking eyes with the viewer. The water creeps over her – too pink to be violent, but too close to blood to be carefree. A pearl sits in the inside of one eye, a reference to Tiatia’s earlier work The Pearl (2022). Its precarious position makes the pearl alluring and disturbing at the same time, embodying the duality that sits at the core of The Dark Current.
The visual poetry cuts fluidly between vignettes. Long acrylic nails spark a fire. A photograph burns in a pool of dark water. Women dance in a futuristic Barbie dream house, and lift weights atop an ice sculpture of a pineapple. An athlete claps their chalked hands. Powerful landscapes are interwoven into all this action. The landscapes are selected for their cultural significance and shot across five Pacific islands. The camera roves knowingly across mossy forests and pale waves. Luscious palm trees stand on dry grass. A lone chalky rock resembles a tombstone. In the background, a hum increases in pitch, then scratches and crackles as the vignettes smash together. The result is simultaneously alarming and captivating.
The evocative landscapes and expressive physicality speak volumes: no dialogue is needed. Lush and barren, powerful yet vulnerable, the natural landscapes are mysterious players in Tiatia’s hyper-stylised universe. The extreme juxtapositions conjure an overall sense of unease that seeps through the piece like the pools of magenta water.
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Tiatia has set out to address climate change, migration, sisterhood, colonial myth-busting and technology in The Dark Current. The number of themes at play is theoretically compelling, but makes for a muddled viewing experience. While the description neatly segments the video into past, present and future, the distinction in the work itself is not clear and a specific meaning or message lies out of reach. Nevertheless, the melding of time and topics is visually mesmerising. Tiatia has produced an entrancing work.
Angela Tiatia is the 2022 recipient of the Ian Potter Moving Image Commission.
Angela Tiatia: The Dark Current on view at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) until 4 February 2024.
This article is published under the Amplify Collective, an initiative supported by The Walkley Foundation and made possible through funding from the Meta Australian News Fund.
