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On Death and Dying

Linda Mary Montano

1982 00:22:10 United StatesEnglishColor4:3Video
Tags:
Death and Dying, Performance, Religion/Spirituality

Description

Three nuns in dark sunglasses sit at a table playing cards while a nurse is inteviewed about "what death looks like” on the soundtrack. As the nurse speaks, in medical detail, of death as a natural process, the nuns sit with party hats on their heads and light birthday candles stuck in bananas. On Death and Dying is a mocking and macabre look at the institutions of death—how hospitals and religions “manage” death. The tape resolves in the conclusion that “death is a job that you do by yourself.”

About Linda Montano

Originally trained as a sculptor, Linda Montano began using video in the 1970s. Attempting to obliterate the distinction between art and life, Montano's artwork is starkly autobiographical and often concerned with personal and spiritual discipline. She spent two years in a convent and studied Yoga and Zen. In 1983, Montano and artist Tehching Hsieh were literally tied together for one year in a living performance. Her avowed interest lies in "learning how to live better through life-like artworks," with personal growth evolving out of shared experience, role adoption, and ritual. Exploring a wide range of subjects, from personal transformation and altered consciousness (Primal Scenes, 1980) to hypnosis and eating disorders (Anorexia Nervosa, 1980), Montano's work from the '70s and early '80s was critical in the development of video by, for, and about women. Her early work includes Mitchell's Death (1978), Handcuff with Tom Marioni (1975), and Characters Learning to Talk (1976-78).

Also see:
Linda M. Montano 1984: An Interview

Linda M. Montano 2016: An Interview

Linda M. Montano's Seven Years of Living Art

Linda M Montano: 14 Years of Living Art