James Richards’s Negative Hands is a frame by frame animated digital remake of Tony Conrad’s seminal flicker film, overlaid with the English subtitles redrawn, frame by frame by an animator of Marguerite Duras’s Les Mains Négatives (1979) — a double evocation of absence and presence, an endless cry for love.

The title’s reference to “negative hands” points to the prehistoric handprints found on the walls of Magdalenian caves along the Atlantic coast. In Richard’s hands, the idea of the solitary cave’s painter scream for love is merged with the ever-present human longing for love and desire. Remaining faithful to his method of channeling the voices of other artists in his work, Richards combines these two animated Facsimiles, making explicit Duras’ own declaration: ‘I find that almost all images get in the way of the text. They prevent the text from being heard.’ This declaration finds new, almost physical form through the intensity of the flicker, which makes the text increasingly difficult to read and mirrors the emotional tension of the work. The soft murmur of industrial noise (designed by Max Bloching) fills the silence of the projection with a constant hum that runs parallel to the tremor of the screen. The experience becomes almost unbearable — much like the feeling it conveys.

Trigger warning: flicker, stroboscopic effect

Text sources:
anorak. Untitled (Trust). September 2024. More info.
Duras, Marguerite, as cited in Pedrero-Setzer, Nicola. “LES MAINS NÉGATIVES, a film by MARGUERITE DURAS”. Le cinéma club. More info.

2024, still, digital video, black and white, sound, 4:3 native aspect ratio, 15:18 min.
Courtesy of the artist, Sylvia Kouvali London/ Piraeus and Isabella Bortolozzi Gallery, Berlin.