Paul McMahon

"I was asking if language can express action in any meaningful way. I chose a structure for this film. In the first half, a set of images followed verbal commands. Each image served as an object to answer a command. Then I let the images play without the verbal framework. In the first half of WHITE MAN, seeing the image is shortened or constrained by having to answer to verbal demands. The relaxation of structure in the second half, releases emotional and narrative qualities in the images themselves and their positions. White man can’t be blamed for the action. White man can’t see." -- E.B.

The film explores the phenomenon of when two things are perceived at the same time – as when two images combine in a double exposure. There is an ambiguity in their hierarchy. They might be perceived apart, joined together, one after the other, or one dominates the other out completely. This ‘relationship’ is what I am intuitively exploring. Film sees the unconscious neither as rational, or irrational. Film is a system of relations.” — E.B. 1977