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David Kelley

The Book of the Dead

Doc. expérimental | 4k | couleur | 19:42 | USA | 2023

The Book of the Dead is an experimental documentary meditating on the American poet Muriel Rukeyser’s poem about the Gauley Tunnel tragedy. In the 1930s in West Virginia, nearly 2,000 primarily Black migrant workers were sickened or killed by silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing silica dust. Rukeyser travelled to West Virginia to meet workers and their families, in some cases, appropriating their words directly. The film revises her white characters to a predominately Black cast — more accurately reflecting the insidious racism prevalent in American society at the time. The film appropriates interviews with the poet, her unfinished screenplay, and worker’s testimony to U.S. Congress. Using actors, theatrical sets, and 3D generated backgrounds, the film produces a multisensory experience of Rukeyser’s process and the industrial tragedy. Unable to travel during the Covid-19 pandemic, Kelley designed the West Virginia mining sets in Unreal, a 3D gaming software and filmed actors at a green screen studio near his home in Los Angeles. The work's theme of failure to breathe poignantly resonates with the Covid-19 pandemic, and the final words turned protest chant of George Floyd: I can't breathe.

David Kelley (Born in Portland Oregon. Lives in Los Angeles California.) Kelley is an artist working with photography, video, and installation. His recent projects draw attention to the effects of global capitalism, resource extraction, and shifting physical and political landscapes. Influenced by a range of visual traditions, Kelley draws upon elements of experimental documentary, ethnography, performance, and avant-garde cinema. By working at the intersection of these strategies, he encourages an understanding of his subjects that is simultaneously direct and speculative. His work has been shown in galleries and museums nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Fotofest Biennial, Houston. Other exhibitions include Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles, The Bank in Shanghai, the de Cordova Biennial in Boston, BAK in Utrecht, MAAP space in Australia, and the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok. Kelley received a Master of Fine Art from the University of California, Irvine, and was a 2010 -11 resident at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California, and is an Associate Professor of the Practice at the Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California.