How does it feel to be black... or dark-skinned, or white? What is light? And what does light do to a photo of a dark face? A white woman spends some time in a black community, where she talks to people about the colour of their skin, and about the photos that she makes of them. She asks; they respond. They ask; she responds, in an investigation of identity, the meaning of and the clichés around 'black' and 'white'.

The photo sessions form the starting point. Rudelius uses the act of photography to portray her models, and simultaneously uses video to 'register' this partly staged, sometimes uneasy, sometimes funny, process, so that a portrait of the photographer is created at the same time. This is about skin and colour, and before long also about the perc…ption of mankind and ideology. One of the models turns the issue round: he says that he sees her, just as she sees him, as an object of study. Photographer becomes model, as envoy of the white European mentality.

As well as the intimacy and fragility of a conversation; the use of two mobile phones at the same time; the tying of shoelaces and the problem of deciding which soft drink to buy, this film depicts the problem of study and 'truthfulness'. Where does voyeurism begin, or where does it end?

'Your Blood is as Red as Mine' shows us how closely you can approach your object, how you can manipulate, and how the tide can turn at any moment. We may have the colour of our blood in common, but the camera stands between you and me, or in any case interferes with the image that we have of each other.

Netherlands Media Art Institute, Esma Moukhtar Read more...