A Clouded Complaint
2019
Audio: 00:15:44
Video: 00:15:44
Sculpture: Garden wire

The other day someone filed an unofficial yet somewhat harsh, handwritten complaint about me:

The lack of empathy of the small, green haired, glass eyed woman in the info left me astonished.

It was my colleague who found the complaint, written as a guestbook entry. On the evening of an uneventful day in the highlands, she read it out loud for the few employees living and working there. As she did so, their eyes eventually turned to me as I was the only one the description could possibly fit. Whether you know me or not, you might be thinking that I in fact have blonde hair with a reddish tinge, but that particular day exceptionally few travellers had been through the area, leaving us free to attend to the various tasks that had been on hold.

Situated close to the hut is a geothermal river with the perfect temperature to bathe in, whether it be to start the day by warming up the body or letting the muscles melt after a long day of hiking, this attraction tends to be swarming with travellers. Although, when I say travellers, I do not merely refer to the hiker, the driver or her daughter but also the ever roaming microscopic plants, the oozy mucus and filamentous algae that inhabit and at times overcrowd the marshy area of the river and its surroundings.

To take advantage of the calmness of the day I plunged myself into the river rake in hand with the aim of making way for more seats and spots to soak in. As I approached the more densely grown area I started getting entangled in the filamentous algae. I could barely see my own hands as they were covered in the green filaments. My feet and thighs quickly became interwoven as well and soon enough the weight of it all pulled me down until my head was, for just a moment, underwater. And for that short moment I became one with the intricate structure of the long threadlike chains and hairy knots. Stepping up from a slippery stone at the bottom I took a breath of air and returned from the river with my task uncompleted. While I was getting dressed, my phone rang. Surprised to realise I was late for my shift, I went straight to the information booth.