I Was a Spiritual Medium
Video, color, sound, 10:26, 2019
Trigger Warning: the audio track of this video contains content that may trigger post-traumatic responses to viewers who experienced interpersonal violence.
In various discourses, women are portrayed to possess a natural affinity with the supernatural and witchcraft that go against the male-centered and colonial notions of religious authority, legitimacy, and purity. These fixed tales of patriarchal fantasy seem to accelerate their absorbing influence, especially when women seek power through channels that give them direct access to spiritual power without the mediation of male priests. It is all too common to find stories of women seeking mastery and self-possession of their life that end by showing how they are ultimately saved from spells and curses by paternal male saviors, whether they are princes or godly figures. When juxtaposed, such parables reveal their mirrored images. As this video fuses the visual fairy tales of damned Disney princesses rescued by heroic men into audio testimonies of women converting from witchcraft to Christianity and receiving redemption from Jesus, these seemingly disparate discourses strangely coincide and resonate.