Can I Caress The Hope

The title refers directly to an absurd piece of French politesse, “puis je caresser l’espoir..'”- for example, you could say “can I caress the hope of having a glass of water?” Set in and around a housing project in the outskirts of Nantes, France (built in 1968) and more often than not housing people of a non-French origin, the video documents in a fractured style using text along with harpsichord music from the time of Louis IV, the ‘City of Malakoff’ before its imminent demise (the buildings are now in the process of demolition). – M.N.
“Michelle Naismith’s videos are elaborate fictions based loosely on fact, or a version of it. Deliberately theatrical, often reliant on props and disguise, the films create plausible worlds in which certainties are undermined.” – Fiona Bradley, Fruitmarket Gallery Edinburgh