In her film Hunger, artist Masha Godovannaya examines the bodily and sensorial experience of family life, exploring how it appears under the cinematic gaze.
The film was conceived as a three-channel projection and preserves its structure whether in cinemas or exhibition spaces. Shot over nine years, it traces the evolving relationship between mother and son. At first, he is inseparable from her, vulnerable and unable to resist being filmed; later, following instructions, he obediently takes the camera in his hands, eventually starting to operate it independently. The film’s duration is structured around the process of breastfeeding, shown in the center, while everyday events and the artist’s conversations with her growing son unfold simultaneously across multiple screens.
Godovannaya’s visual language reflects the unembellished, routine labor of motherhood, with its rituals and private details of domestic life that are rarely made public. With a sense of permissiveness, the camera documents a process filled with tenderness, struggle, pain, creativity, and pleasure.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with artists Masha Godovannaya and Polina Zaslavskaya.
Hunger
Masha Godovannaya
Russia, 2011. 39 min.
18+
