Holly Streekstra

The Language of the Enemy

The Language of the Enemy
digital video projection
Created in collaboration with David Adamko

This video tells the story of Hungarian actor Zoltan Gera who was imprisoned in 1964 for incitement against the state. Gera was a mime artist and character actor who studied eastern philosophy as a means to overcome oppression. Codified gestures derived from Indian mudra traditions convey, for Gera and his captors, action, emotion, sentiment, and states of meditation.