The Sickness is the Cure is a program of selected video works that engage the process of healing beyond the mandates of curative care. Biomedicine defines illness and trauma as a deviation from a normative body, designating upon bodies the necessity of recuperation. The cure is a definitive process: debts are paid; equilibrium is restored. In contrast, alternative healing modalities understand illness to be a mode of communication, a message from the interior about the exterior, and vice versa. Healing disavows the linearity of the cure. It relies on a subjective assessment whereas the cure relies on an external framework. The healing process is endless. The body and its environment are in constant flux. There is no original state to return to. Through these video works, healing emerges as a multivalent process: personal and collective, spiritual and biological, humorous and somber. Mitchell’s Death, Linda Montano, 1977, 22 min Kissing Doesn’t Kill, Tom Kalin/Gran Fury, 1990, 4 min Je Ne Regrette Rien, Marlon Riggs, 1992, 37 min It’s Cool, I’m Good, Stanya Kahn, 2010, 35 min Procedure, Doreen Garner, 2012, 9 min
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