Return to: ATA Film & Video Festival 2008: Program 2

Infection

In this work I am trying to investigate my personal infection with the idea of socialism. I desire to explore the delightful mask of socialism that two major dictators hide behind, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. My purpose is to examine the infection of power. I want to review the problems when these fantastic utopian, ideals are put into practice in addition to the rapid spread of its consequences.

Questions with Esther Maria Probst

Elizabeth Wing: What does the sound loop we hear translate to in English?

Esther Maria Probst: The sound loop is an excerpt from a speech delivered by the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, in which he states, "I am a socialist, come close and I will infect you."

EW: Does the cricket in your mouth have special significance?

EMP: I believe that there are many leaders that carefully hide behind the veil of the socialism's charming ideals. These leaders may call themselves socialists but they tend to forget the basic principles of the term socialism. Thus, they begin to consume their own delusional infection this idea is represented in my video when I consume the cricket. These leaders in my mind are infected. I look at them with displeasure and offense as one may look at the action of placing a cricket in my mouth in the same manner.

EW: Can you us more about your fascination with Socialism?

EMP: My mother, a Cuban exile, fled the Fidel Castro regime in the early 1960s. She was fed with false promises. She completely lost her freedom. She witnessed the downfall of her country. She was a product of an infected leader. Thus, my entire childhood I have been taught to detest Fidel Castro along with the cultural, physical, and spiritual repression of his regime. I have always had a deep fascination for my mother's homeland, mostly because there is a passion that resides in me embedded in an island that I can never understand with my body in the way my mind instinctively understands it. I only have stories of my mother's past to turn to. I use these stories paired with found American footage to inform my audience of my personal experience. I want to bridge a connection between my world and theirs for the reason that I believe that every experience is connected. Ultimately, I hope to impart sentiment and awareness of future or current infections onto my audience.

Esther Maria Probst resides and works in Syracuse, New York. She is going to school to get her Master of Fine Arts, in Art: Video. She received her undergraduate degree in history and studio arts at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana.

She was born in Miami, Florida, and raised by her parents, Esther and Bernard Probst. Her mother, Esther, is a Cuban exile, which constantly intrigues and inspires her daughter. Her father taught her to love the ocean. Her four sisters, one brother and two dogs are confused by her work, but love her and her work dearly.

Last updated 09/09/2008.