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O vídeo da egoísta – Yolanda Castaño

This week we recover the work of one of Galician videopoetry’s reference voices: Yolanda Castaño. Writer, literary critic, translator, TV presenter, teacher, cultural agent… Yolanda is one of the most renowned poets of our country, with a broad and internationally awarded literary career and works translated into various languages.

“O vídeo da egoísta” is a videopoem about texts from the book “O libro da egoísta” (Galaxia, 2003). It examines indentity, her own identity in particular, ” with self-criticism and despair”, as she says. Also made in 2003, “O vídeo da egoísta” is, following Antón Reixa’s works, one of the first examples of videopoetry made in Galicia, in Galician language. It explores Yolanda’s multiplicity  of personalities through tireless steps in a continuous pursuit of her career or maybe of herself. Crossing out her face, removing her makeup, are both synonyms of concealment and mask. Tom Konyves (pioneer in the genre and creator of the Videopoetry Manifesto) would catalogue this piece as an example of “Performance text”, on the basis of Yolanda’s appearance on screen. Aggressive use of colour, which saturates and distorts backgrounds, stresses a certain dreamlike drift effect. Imagery highlights the materiality of text (“word shall become flesh”):  word finds a body of its own, either written directly on skin, or used as a physical object in certain actions, or overlaid on screen with multiple effects. This is a truly sensorial work. Soundtrack is particularly important within the creation of an unsettling but resounding atmosphere. Even the flow of recitation, crossed by multiplication and distortion effects, stresses the idea of a divergent identity and increases a estrangement effect within the already confusing atmosphere of the videopoem.

Here you can watch a report regarding “O libro da egoísta” and hear Yolanda’s own definition of videopoetry.