IT'S WORTH IT

“It’s worth it” — that’s how my father would begin any conversation about politics. He and I live in our own truths and realities, which rarely overlap. My father lives in Russia.

In this artwork, I explore the resignation to futility as a defense mechanism when there is no other way to create a safe reality. I visualize the Pavlovian conditioning that leads one to believe that violence and victim-blaming is justified, that sacrifice is inevitable for the greater good.


Television, as part of the cultural code, plays a central role. I am, quite literally, watching myself being tortured without protesting or even attempting to stop. Obediently, I keep watching. 


I am also watching you, the audience. Watching your helplessness, indifference, and apathy, while you watch mine. We are all part of this endless cycle of brainwashing.


Ultimately this video performance is about power. Drawing on my own lived experiences—through BDSM power play, being both the director and subject of performance, and being a “free” artist in a world where freedom is merely an illusion—I seek to illustrate the perpetual power struggle and the concept of power as the ultimate currency.


Idea: Liza Shkirando

Production: FlickerFuckers

Art direction: FlickerFuckers, Liza Shkirando

Editor: Henrik Hellström

Sound: Gigi Sanadiradze 

Cast: Liza Shkirando, Max Prism, anonymous


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