Cecelia Condit
- 1983Possibly in Michigan
- 1981Beneath the Skin
- 1987Not a Jealous Bone
Fed intoTikTok
She calls her videos feminist fairy tales: sung, collaged stories in which horror and comedy share the frame.
Condit studied sculpture at the Philadelphia College of Art and photography at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She has lived and worked in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Milwaukee. At the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee she directed the graduate film programme for thirty years, and she is now professor emerita there.
The videos rework stories about women, sexuality and violence, and they can be funny and horrible in the same shot. She collages processed video, Super 8, found footage, original music and sung dialogue, borrowing from soap operas, music videos and gothic horror. In later work she often appears on camera herself.
Her first video, Beneath the Skin (1981), came out of her relationship with Ira Einhorn, who had hidden his former girlfriend's body in a closet. Possibly in Michigan (1983) became a cult classic and has circulated widely online since the 2010s. Condit has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and her work is held by MoMA and the Centre Pompidou.
Films
Where to start with Cecelia Condit, in the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Beneath the Skin
A murder story told by a girl on a swing. Condit narrates the tale of a boyfriend who hid his former girlfriend's body in a closet.
Possibly in Michigan
A sung, densely collaged fairy tale set in a suburban shopping mall, in which two women turn on the man in an animal mask who has been stalking them.
Not a Jealous Bone
A musical fairy tale in which an 82-year-old woman and a young woman fight over a magic bone that grants eternal life.
Oh, Rapunzel
Made over twelve years in a decaying Philadelphia estate. Condit retells her mother's life through the story of Rapunzel.
Echoed in
Where Condit's ideas turned up next.
