Naomi Fisher's video installation Jungle Sweat, Roseate, is up at Vizcaya, the one and only Italian castle sitting on Biscayne Bay. Never scared of the intellectual, Fisher often uses a feminist lens in her work.
Through a grant from the Contemporary Arts Project focused on reinvigorating the house and gardens with creative dialogue, Jungle Sweat, Roseate takes place at Vizcaya, and the female actresses in the film do all the things you've ever dreamed of doing. They swim in the little lagoon, canoe around the Bay, touch furniture, and frolic around the gardens.
Jungle Sweat, Roseate tells the story of a young, wild lass taken in by a creepy trio of bourgeois broads. She cleans up nicely and enjoys their time together until something dramatic happens that changes her mind about the lifestyle.
The film is haunting, dreamy, and a little psychedelic. At times it even feels like a music video clip, however not an exploitative, hipster video. It plays like a dream you just might have in that timeless place when you're half awake, half asleep, and thinking about childhood.
When we spoke with Fisher earlier this year, we asked about her favorite Vizcaya memories, and what she related is reflected in the installation.
"My hodgepodge Vizcaya fantasy memories may not always be factual, rather they become a magical mishmash of bygone eras, robber baron decadence (while the masses starve), goth-mermaid spawning grounds, Renaissance fair falconers, Quinceañera hoop skirts, wedding fireworks, white party muscle men..."
Much of that is present, minus the muscle men.
See Jungle Sweat, Roseate screens through January 16 at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (3251 S. Miami Ave, Miami). Fisher will speak alongside Associate Professor of Art History at University of Colorado and author Maria Buszek on Wednesday, November 9 at 7 p.m. Admission costs $5.
