Devin Troy Strother

The Worst Witch

Devin Troy Strother
The Worst Witch, 2019

Written by Mandy Harris Williams
Directed & Edited by Alima Lee

8 min. 2-channel film

In Devin Troy Strother’s (b. 1986, USA) 8-minute two-channel video, The Worst Witch, a young black woman performs for the camera as a green witch, parodying the classic trope of the Magical Negro. Switching between single and double screen, zooming in and out of a mosaic of images within images, the fragmented video never presents a singular image of the witch; it captures not just the interior of her home, but what Strother conceptualizes as the metaphorical space of her inner psyche – a privileged and intimate site to which the viewer is magically drawn. Disrupting the wholeness of the subject, Strother leaves us with a dynamic representation of identity, forming and deforming as the witch slowly takes off her green makeup.

Screening:
Wednesday, December 18, 12-6 PM
Thursday, December 19, 12-6 PM
Friday, December 20, 12-6 PM
Saturday, December 21, 12-4 PM

Thank you Palle Vedel (Manden med Kameraet)