Offerings of Sleepless Care
a Dance-on-film
2021
ABOUT
In my recent work, I often examine the nature of caregiving. Caregiving is the most invisible form of medical labor, and, in some ways, the most vital. It is the work of helping an individual with an illness through basic daily tasks, from medical care and personal care, to meals and transportation. The majority of caregivers in the United States are family members caring for a loved one. Palliative caregiving, the care given to patients with life-threatening, complex illnesses, can be exceptionally strenuous. Such care requires tenderness, strength, and absolute trust for both the patient and the caregiver. Every year, many Americans sacrifice their employment and well-being to serve as full-time palliative caregivers to their loved ones. Whether healing in the wake of losing these loved ones, or in the ongoing act of tending to the sick, caregivers often go unacknowledged in the weight they carry. Offerings of Sleepless Care is a gesture of grief, tenderness, and compassion for the living and for the lost. Developed as a reflection on my own experiences as a palliative caregiver, Offerings of Sleepless Care is a dance-on-film filled with meditations and gifts, honoring the quiet moments shared between patient and caregiver at the seam of love and loss.
Directed, Choreographed, & Performed by Smita Sen.
Cinematography by Juan Matos.
Music: Improvisation in Yaman. Trina Basu, violin; Amali Premawardhana, cello. From Karavika's album, Sunrise.
dance-on-film
TRAILER
stills
