Javier Téllez's 'Shadow Play' Explores Marginalization Through Film at ArtReview

Javier Téllez's solo exhibition 'Shadow Play' at ArtReview features six films from the past decade, including two new works commissioned for the show. The films are made in collaboration with marginalized groups such as refugees, mental health patients, and the incarcerated, who act as both performers and co-producers. The exhibition's title references the metaphorical shadows to which these populations are often relegated. Works include 'Bourbaki Panorama' (2014), shot in Luzern using a 19th-century war panorama to explore migration and displacement, and 'Shadow Play' (2014), which uses silhouettes reminiscent of 18th-century French shadow plays. Both new films are shot on 16mm and shown on antique reel projectors. Earlier works include 'Caligari and the Sleepwalker' (2008), a reinterpretation of the 1920 silent horror film 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' made with mental health patients; 'Durer's Rhinoceros' (2010), filmed at Miguel Bombarda Hospital in Lisbon with day clinic patients; 'Letter on the Blind for the Use of those Who See' (2007), featuring six blind individuals exploring an elephant through touch; and 'La Conquista De México' (2012), inspired by Antonin Artaud's text and commissioned for Documenta 13, shot in a Mexico psychiatric hospital. The exhibition includes a study center with texts by Artaud and Diderot. 'Shadow Play' questions societal perceptions of periphery and control, bridging the gap between self and other.