UH HUH HER is an interactive, multi-channel video installation that uses a fictionalized viral overdose video to explore privacy, control, and the loss and eventual reclaiming of one’s narrative.
As a socially engaged filmmaker, my work explores the aftermath of trauma. I’m inspired by how people rise, survive and flourish in adversity. In the exhibition, a central screen features cellphone footage, uploaded to a platform like YouTube. A woman is passed out from an overdose in a public space. Her child is present, along with onlookers, but no one intervenes. Below the video, a scroll of polarizing comments becomes an interactive element where viewers can add reactions in real-time. The woman has lost control of her narrative - the ability to tell her own story, remove the video, control her addiction, her body, custody of her child. This moment, her lowest, is now a permanent, dehumanizing spectacle that will follow her into recovery and beyond. To reclaim her narrative, a second screen presents her POV, staring upward. A third screen shows the child’s perspective, while a fourth, from a security camera, captures a wider, objective view. My use of re-creation and hybrid documentary techniques incorporates my POV as well, and these multiple viewpoints challenge the idea that one POV defines the truth. Overdose videos often cut out before viewers see EMS arrive. This piece, running 7-9 minutes, reflects the national average EMS response time. This is coupled with VO narration as the woman shares her story beyond this moment—her battle to remove the video, reactions to viewer comments, effects on her life, entering recovery, and reuniting with her family to live a multi-faceted, post-overdose life.
Dina Fiasconaro is a Baltimore screenwriter/director whose work explores psychology, gender roles and marginalization within families. Dina is a 2021 recipient of the Baker Artist Award, and her films have screened at a variety of venues and festivals, including the Baltimore Museum of Art. Dina has honed her films at MacDowell, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Stowe Story Labs, Saul Zaentz Innovation Lab, GrrlHaus Cinema Seminar and Constellation Incubator. She has an M.F.A. in Directing from Columbia University, and a B.S. in T.V., Radio and Film from Syracuse University. She is a Professor of Film and Moving Image at Stevenson University, a member of Film Fatales, and founder of the Baltimore Women’s Media Alliance. City: Baltimore
