having-seen-snake (2016)

• 71%
• 2016
• Sriwhana Spong

Sriwhana Spong filmed having-seen-snake in Pittsburgh. In the moment of encountering the snake, Spong's body responded by intuitively entering into a state of stillness and hyper-sensing—as one creature responding to another. In the first part of the film, a more surreal imprint of place and sensory experience is juxtaposed with the interior of the alcohol house at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. This part centres around a new species of snake recently discovered by herpetologist José Pardial in the Amazon. Spong interviews Pardial, who describes the process of designating a name, and reflects on what it means to transfer something from the unspoken into the realm of the spoken. having-seen-snake ends with the song of the Rothschild's mynah recorded at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. The bird, endemic to Bali, where the artist's father is from, is currently on the brink of extinction due to poaching.