Bonnie Camplin
Special Afflictions by Roy
Harryhozen
2006
Preparatory drawing
Courtesy the artist
Bonnie Camplin
Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen
‘Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen is inspired by the 1970s British horror film The Mutations. Four hapless sideshow features sit and gossip about their employer and ‘creator’, Roy Harryhozen, who has kidnapped them and altered them each with a ‘special effect’ — which has obviously gone wrong and resulted for each in an abject temporal affliction. The notions of ‘effect’ and ‘affliction’ have become confused, for one person’s (Roy’s) ‘vision’ has resulted in the wretched condition of his subjects.’
Bonnie Camplin, May 2006
Bonnie Camplin’s 35mm film Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen premiered at the fair in The Artists Cinema. Previous videos such as My Name Is Ko Ko (2002), Hallo Hero (2003) and Good Health (2003) established Camplin’s visual and linguistic register of cut-and-paste love stories told with the lucidity of a valium hangover. Utilizing a range of low-budget film and music techniques, Camplin’s work is preoccupied with rituals, belief systems and the detritus of popular culture. Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen combines live action and animation and is a surreal meditation on man’s hopeless relationship with his own consciousness.
Bonnie Camplin (b. 1970) is a British artist based in London. Recent projects include ‘A Meeting at Conway Hall’, Conway Hall, commissioned by Book Works, London (2004) and ‘The Best Book About Pessimism I Ever Read’, Kuntsverein, Braunschweig (2002). Camplin is a member of the group Donateller with Mark Leckey and Ed Laliq, and has recently released a solo LP of her experimental music, ‘Heavy Epic LP’.
Bonnie Camplin’s Special Afflictions by Roy Harryhozen was co-commissioned by Frieze Projects/LUX and shown daily during the fair in The Artists Cinema. This film will tour to UK cinemas, shown before main features, through the Independent Cinema Office.
