Music ‘Vantiy & Shame’ written and produced by Johnston Sheard, performed by Sandi Sirocco
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SYNOPSIS
Vanity + Shame (4:55) directed by Catherine Anyango, explores the notion of pairs and doubles, alienation and urban ennui. The audience becomes bystanders to a drama between two women in an ambiguous relationship with a third character in the form of the We Table, a table whose top, a one-way mirror, invites both vanity and voyeurism. Cinematography by Susanne Aichele, hair & makeup by Viktor Charles, with music performed by Sandi Sirocco.
Catherine Anyango is a Swedish/Kenyan artist. She studied design at St Martins and the Royal College of Art followed by an MA in English Literature at UCL. She has produced live film events around London, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Film Theatre and has exhibited work internationally and across London at the ICA, Shunt Vaults and the English National Ballet. Most recently she has shown work at the London Design Festival and set design at Design Miami/Basel. In September 2010 the publication of her graphic novel adaptation of Heart of Darkness was met with critical acclaim including the Observer’s Graphic Novel of the Month.She is currently a tutor in the Communication Art and Design department at the Royal College of Art. In May this year she co-curated DRAW with Anne Howeson, a cross college exhibition that included work by Sir Peter Blake, Paul Noble, Richard Wentworth and Quentin Blake.Catherine is especially interested in absurd and non-narrative theatre, the immersive, atmospheric experience. Her work moves between film, animation and illustration, and the merging of all three in creating environments in which to experience the integration of sound and images in three dimensions. In this way she uses the idea of theatre as a bridge between a human presence and an intangible idea, so that one may inhabit the spectacle.
Susanne Aichele is a filmmaker who finds stimulation in the captivating visual flair and composition of artists such as Alla Nazimova, Kenneth Anger, Erwin Blumenfeld and Hiro as well as the colour-schemes and stage-craft seen in early MGM musicals.By creating sets and costumes and using photographic lenses, filters and on-set effects she aims to achieve a dream-like athmosphere that is captured in the footage, be it for music videos, fashion and art projects or narrative films.Inspired by his music and sharing an aesthetic vision, she frequently collaborates with composer and director Johnston Sheard.
After studying Fine Art in London’s Central Saint Martins, Viktor’s passion for makeup soon led to him painting faces as well as canvas. It wasn’t before long that he amassed a varied portfolio of editorial, fashion, film and music video work with clients including Juergen Teller, Simian Coates, ID, Dansk and Peaches.
Johnston Sheard is a soundtrack composer, pop producer and song-writing member of the band “Sandi Sirocco”. He also works as a film and video directing team with Susanne Aichele.
Sandi Sirocco is a London-based four piece Electropop / Electrodisco band formed in Spring 2009.They evoke the spirit of lost mythologies like Discotheque sirens and sunburnt sailors riding a sensual electronic pulse of Saharan sandstorms and Mediterranean steam.Their sound updates the vibrating rhythms of Computer Disco with the crispness of contemporary Pop and RnB, complemented with the occasional acoustic ballad.Using an In-house Creative director/Set designer and Videographer they produce a complete visual experience to coordinate with their musical story-telling.
