Screening + Conversation
‘My Jaw is on the Floor’ Esther Gatón, 2023

Friday 24 November

@esthergaton_

Esther Gaton

We follow a female character who evolves erratically in incongruous spaces. Here, the use of language —verbal and physical— is distorted yet familiar, as the script is based on lines coming from dating apps and manuals on how to pronounce English. The main character, originally from Ireland, is also the narrator. We assist to a delayed bodily reaction to the sentences she’s mouthing. Some of them, acting on her unconscious memory, might have been thrown at her in the past, and here seem to be possessing her. This altered relation between the character and her own voice, creates a sense of vitality and malleability in the way she communicates, as it happens to those who are new to the tongue, such as non-native speakers and kids. Orality, together with the density of the cheap sauna where the main action takes place, trigger the character´s behaviour and the movement of the film.

Esther Gatón (Valladolid, 1988) lives between London and Madrid. She works through sculpture, video and writing. Gatón studied Fine Arts at Saint-Luc Liège (Belgium), at the University of Barcelona, at Goldsmiths Univ. of London and received her PhD cum laude from the Complutense University of Madrid. She has been a resident at WIELS, Brussels and her work has been exhibited in institutions such as Museo CA2M Madrid, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Patio Herreriano, Valladolid, CAPC Bordeaux and Fabra i Coats Barcelona, Barcelona.