Pedro 2009 from Marilyn Volkman on Vimeo. Single-Channel Video TRT 00:15:04 Shot
in the Sonoran Desert at the border of the United States and Mexico,
Pedro follows a couple as they meander through the desert landscape of
the American Southwest wearing the Combat Uniforms first used at the
end of the Persian Gulf War and re-issued by the United States
government in the early stages of the Wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
With helicopters intermittently circling from above, one physical action leads to another as the subjects eat, sleep, bathe, trek through brush, urinate and engage in sexual acts. The plot loosely follows a five-part dramatic structure, yet the narrative arc of the action remains unclear. Pedro offers up a formal exploration of the body, camouflage and the desert landscape at the highly conflictual site of the US/Mexico border. Through an ordinary, yet oddly pornographic series of events, the subjects find themselves unguided by any over-arching strategy or logic, left to rely solely on their impulses, fears and desires as they move forward. ![]() |