Jordan Strafer, ‘SOS’
With nods to noir and German Expresionism, Strafer’s film is an intriguingly wonky piece of meta-cinema
With nods to noir and German Expresionism, Strafer’s film is an intriguingly wonky piece of meta-cinema
Jordan Strafer
SOS
2021, 11 min 8 sec
In the intricately made short film SOS (2021), Jordan Strafer transports us into a realm where cinema meets tactile artistry. A homage to German Expressionism, the piece revives the era’s penchant for stark narratives and groundbreaking techniques. In this journey, Strafer orchestrates an arresting tableau with dolls embodying life’s fragility amid cyclical transitions of night and day. Through the manipulation of these non-specific figures by colossal silicone hands, a vivid allegory of power dynamics and existential futility is carved. Strafer, echoing traditions of meta-cinema, unabashedly showcases these directorial interventions, thereby turning the film into a reflective discourse on the craft itself. Bridging the personal with the universal, SOS stands as a testament to Strafer’s innovative approach to storytelling, marking a distinctive voice in artists’ moving image.
About Jordan Strafer
Jordan Strafer (b.1990, Miami) is an artist working primarily in video, based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from The New School in 2016 and her MFA from Bard College in 2019. She has participated in group exhibitions at Red Tracy, Copenhagen (2020-21); Housing, New York (2020); SculptureCenter, New York (2020); The New Museum, New York (2021); and Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, Berlin (2021). In 2022 she had her first solo exhibition ‘PUNCHLINE’ at Participant Inc. cantering her film, PEAK HEAVEN LOVE FOREVER (2022). In 2023, she will have her second institutional solo exhibition at the Secession, Vienna, and her first museum solo exhibition at CAMH in Houston.
Jordan Strafer, SOS, 2021, 11 min 8 sec. Courtesy the artist and Hot Wheels, Athens /London and Heidi, Berlin.
