Double Take
Running Time: 5:30 minutes
© Sara Angelucci 2007

Sara Angelucci’s Double Take follows the narrative of identical-twin sisters recounting their traumatic witnessing (at the age of five) of a family member’s death. The single-channel video appears like a stereographic image: a woman, simply dressed with her brown hair pulled back, sits before a burgundy background, seemingly mirrored in two frames. One twin begins her monologue, joined by the other moments later. Peppered with “I remember,” “I don’t remember,” they weave a dual narrative of shared memories, punctuated by differing recollections. Fueled by Angelucci’s familial history, Double Take is situated firmly within her photographic oeuvre of the last ten years. Unlike her Wallet project (Everything in my Father’s Wallet/Everything in my Wallet, 2005), where she rephotographed archival material, Double Take is an edited reenactment based on the sisters’ stories, brought to life by professional actors. In her photographic and video installation of 2002 entitled, Questions She’ll Never Answer, Angelucci dons a replica of the dress her mother wore aboard ship on her immigrant voyage to Canada, using a video loop to animate the photograph. In Double Take the artist takes greater liberties with the past, commenting both on the specifics of individual histories and on the nature of memory itself. Apparently, even indelible memories can have more than one face.

- Katy McCormick 2007

Production Credits:

Camera and video editing: Jeff Winch
Audio recording: Eric Cator
Angela Déiseach: Acting
Maureen Déiseach: Acting

Special thanks:
Carla Angelucci
Clara Angelucci
Kristen den Hartog
Marcus Schubert

With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts