The current pandemic has made us think about the need, as a global society, to look at our relationship with planet Earth. Science has been warning us for a while that if we don't take actions to change our relationship towards the planet, we risk having floods, refugee crises, fires and pandemics. We believe that the current pandemic can be a call to action. Our Skin is a project that aims to reflect on the place where we live and to remember that we are nature.
Our Skin is a 36 minute dance film created by Yael Karavan and Rita Vilhena and made in collaboration with film maker Francisca Manuel, performers Joana Castro, Thamiris Carvalho and Jim Clark, costume designer Carlota Lagido and sound designer Diogo Melo. Filmed in the Portuguese wilderness of Coentral Grande, in Castanheira de Pêra, the artistic object is composed of images captured with micro and macro lenses of the skin of the trees, the veins of the rivers, and the bodies of the dancers, contradicting the separation that exists in urban society. The film observes and questions how we influence each other: Body Earth, Earth-Body as it explores the transformation of the female body merging with the natural landscape. The boundaries between the performers bodies and the landscape disappear, highlighting the continuity of our skin into the skin of the earth. Our Skin aims to bring back the wild nature into the urban spaces where it once belonged. Our Skin is aimed to be projected as a public art piece on big buildings for all eyes to see as well as inside theatres and has already been adapted into various installations in different spaces, including a gallery- ‘Antecâmara’ and the cistern under the Bellas Artes, art school in the centre of Lisbon.