The femme fatale: a mysterious and seductive woman notorious for leading men into deadly situations. In their performances made for camera, Tania Smith and Georgia Banks both embody aspects of the femme fatale. In Untitled (heel), Smith languidly turns her head from one side to the next, adorned by a blood red shoe – the ultimate symbol of feminine sexuality. In Drip, Banks stares deeply into the camera, a thick deep liquid dripping from her mouth, pooling across the surface of a second screen below.
This seductive exchange between the artist and her camera (and ultimately her viewer) is ruptured by a violence that permeates these works. In Untitled (heel), Smith’s shoe, which epitomises the eroticism of this piece, has been strapped to her head with brown tape, across her face and blocking her sight, the roll still hanging loosely against the side of her face. In Drip, as the second screen fills, it becomes clear the liquid spilling from Banks’ mouth is blood. The origin of this blood is inexplicable; it resembles some kind of internal hemorrhaging, or unknown injury.
In these videos both Smith and Banks portray the perfect femme fatale, reeling their audience in with the allure of erotic, and then leading them down to danger.
