Inherited Asymmetry is a video installation featuring live action and 2D animation elements. The video explores the realization that we not only inherit traits from our ancestors but also bodily asymmetries. The visual representation of these asymmetries is embodied through my own physical form, while the symbol of inheritance is depicted by the umbilical cord. The work delves into the anxiety surrounding what we inherit from our parents, both externally and internally.
“A whitish-blue umbilical cord, alien and familiar at the same time, as transgressive as it is unifying. In Sára Anna Borbély’s video installation, it becomes a symbol of a terrifying process: the infiltration of all the characteristics and properties of the ancestors into the descendants. An umbilical cord that is torn and winds its way through pubic hair into the uterus. In her concentrated video installation, which combines various techniques and styles, Sára Anna Borbély plays with a symbol that seems alien and familiar at the same time: a whitish-blue cord that nourishes the fetus, makes it grow – and gives it the shapes intended by the respective genetic material. Borbély illustrates this process of growth and inheritance with skepticism and horror – bespectacled eyes that inspect, looking at one’s own face, full of asymmetries and supposed flaws; one breast melts away from the other.
Inherited Asymmetry is about all the characteristics and traits that our parents and ancestors pass on to us and over which we have no control. At least: Ultimately, the voices that previously overlapped fade away and the vital cord that was just being pulled can be lowered.” (Carolin Weidner) – Diagonale’24