Don't Look Under The Bed

A video installation projected on two facing screens, 'Don't Look Under The Bed' explores the issue of bullying at school, and how it creates an unsafe environment for young people who encounter a lack of respect and develop low self-esteem.

Inspired by Clause 28, and produced in response to the suicide of a teenager who was taunted for three years for being gay, this project examines the issues of power and social alienation within the educational environment that leaves young men vulnerable and exposed at school. It poses the idea that a lack of support allows bullying and queer bashing in wider society,

'Don't Look Under The Bed', is presented as a non-lineal narrative, split into two-facing screens linking shot sequences that are structured to create a direct impact on the audience. Installed this way to question our involvement as viewers and as participants not only in the installation but also in the social landscape.

There is no dialogue, only a soundtrack based on 'De Profundis', a text written by Oscar Wilde who was imprisoned in Reading because of his homosexuality. It is intensely visual and on most occasions the audience may momentarily feel ‘centre stage’ becoming part of the installation in their response to the images and soundtrack, as well as the physical location within the piece.

 
Video Integracija (Video Integration) Belgrade Summer Festival, 2005

16th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, National Film Theatre, 2001

Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival USA, 2001

4th London Disability Film Festival, National Film Theatre, 2001

Turku Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Finland, 2001

7th Deaf Film & TV Film Festival Wolverhampton, 2001

The Lux Cinema London, 2001

Vee -TV Pulse Series, Channel 4, 2001