Hetain Patel Don’t Look at the Finger 2017. Video, high definition, projection, colour and sound (stereo), 16min, 9sec.
Hetain Patel’s work reflects on how cultural identity is communicated through performance and popular culture
Don’t Look at the Finger 2017, is a film following the rituals of a West-African wedding ceremony in a church. The title references a quote by Bruce Lee from the 1973 Kung-Fu film Enter the Dragon.
For Patel, who grew up in multicultural Britain, Hollywood films were a source of escapism and a subject of shared interest with peers. This video combines familiar cinematic tropes with cross-cultural references. Actors of West African heritage perform East Asian martial arts, wearing costumes inspired by Japan and Mongolian dress that are made using Dutch wax fabric, commonly worn by West African communities at times of celebration.
This work has been chosen in response to themes, such as dance, in the Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life exhibition.