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M+, Hong Kong. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2018, © Nalini Malani
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Mediatheque
Nalini Malani 納里尼．馬拉尼
The Job 工作
1997
Nalini Malani’s The Job documents a work of theatre titled Naukari (‘job’ in Hindi). A collaboration with the director Anuradha Kapur, the performance adapts a short story written by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht in the 1930s. The plot centres on a woman caught impersonating her dead husband to keep a job as a factory guard. To sustain the lie, she lives with a ‘wife’ and children. Though her work earns praise, she loses the job when an accident at the factory reveals her identity.
The video opens with a news clipping summarising the premise. A woman occupies the set, interacting with a series of mysterious objects; among these are painted transparent cylinders, a recurring medium in Nalani’s work. The protagonist’s struggles with poverty are narrated in voiceover. She packs a suitcase and at one moment folds herself inside it. Later, dressed in black, with her long hair hidden under a cap, she moves with confidence and experiences a short-lived degree of freedom.
To complement the live action, The Job incorporates excerpts of Malani’s 1996 animation Memory: Record/Erase. These drawings similarly spring from Brecht’s story to explore themes related to women’s labour.
The video opens with a news clipping summarising the premise. A woman occupies the set, interacting with a series of mysterious objects; among these are painted transparent cylinders, a recurring medium in Nalani’s work. The protagonist’s struggles with poverty are narrated in voiceover. She packs a suitcase and at one moment folds herself inside it. Later, dressed in black, with her long hair hidden under a cap, she moves with confidence and experiences a short-lived degree of freedom.
To complement the live action, The Job incorporates excerpts of Malani’s 1996 animation Memory: Record/Erase. These drawings similarly spring from Brecht’s story to explore themes related to women’s labour.
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