“Insufficient Projections” in Video Installation Art about Skin Tone Bias: Parasitism in Tau Lewis’ Flesh-Tone Mask

Abstract

This essay revolves around the question of how parasitism as fate of video’s insufficiency may metaphorically contribute to the contents of a video, as well as to the meanings of the installation in which it is included. A case study of Tau Lewis’ Flesh-tone Mask will serve as basis for addressing this concern. From the perspective of haptic visuality, it is clear that this video parasitizes on the surface of the masks included. At the same time, the video also acts as masked host, which provides new insights into parallels in insufficiency between video projection and casted, heterogenous masks. Moreover, the video’s symbiotic relationships strengthen its contents: the black woman considered “insufficient” can be said to “parasitize” on the appropriated pale skinned masks, thus evoking spectators’ “skin-awareness” while also breathing life into them as host. If Christine Ross argues that video’s insufficiency helps to complexify perception, I develop the argument that Flesh-tone Mask extends the suitability of this statement to the politics of skin tone bias.