Trouble

Abstract

Trouble Mariah Garnett (bio) When I began making Trouble (2019), I wrote down what happened every day for the first six weeks of shooting. This is when I was staying in my dad's art studio in Vienna. I wasn't sure what would come of it, but about a year later when I made Other & Father (2016), this text was exhibited alongside a two-channel projection of my shot for shot remake of archival news footage of my dad from 1971. And in 2019, all of these elements ended up in the final cut of Trouble as onscreen text. What began as research, or as a playful exercise, or a means of recording information for posterity, often ended up sitting alongside material specifically crafted for the film. This is true in most of my work. [End Page 92] Day 1 I arrive at the airport. It's David's birthday. I decide not to ask about filming. Click for larger view View full resolution Day 3 I ask David about filming. He tentatively says yes but feels uncomfortable. He talks at length about Belfast. I wish I had my camera. I meet with a collector for lunch and I'm wearing a Raiders sweatshirt. He is wearing a suit. I feel embarrassed about my clothes. I meet Anne at a bar David used to drink at in his wilder days. I can't tell if I have a crush on her. She tells me I walk as fast as she bikes. Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 93] Day 5 Get AIDS test at the free clinic. Kill time looking at Tinder and feel like a monster. Later, I go to a gallery where I am supposed to meet some people. I see at least two people from the waiting room for the AIDS clinic at the opening. I tell my new "friends" this. Wonder if it is appropriate. Click for larger view View full resolution Day 6 I have a dream that I am a piece of paper floating above the rooft ops. I float over the whole city and I am on fire. The pain is so excruciating I beg god to kill me and put me out of my misery. Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 94] Day 8 Supposed to go to the countryside but David says it's too gloomy so we don't go. I try not to take this personally but am not entirely successful. We go to see an art show and he starts coming up with ideas for ways we could shoot stuff together. I am elated. At home, I watch Se7en with German dubbing. The neighbors scream at each other. I turn my sound recorder on and fall asleep. Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 95] Day 11 David takes me to the Osteopath. She tells me my uterus has shifted. I feel nervous about videoing even though she said its ok. I don't record the good part, only the stuff that comes right after. Afterwards we meet some of my new friends at the gay Christmas market. My uterus hurts from her moving it around. David worries he'll have to take me to the hospital. He is jumpy around my friends. Astrid asks if the Osteopath was expensive and he replies in German and walks off. Astrid asks me "do you know what he just said?" I don't. "He said 'I never gave her anything so I figured this was the least I could do.'" Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 96] Day 12 Joanna and I meet Kevin and David at the natural history museum and all bomb around like children. We lick the salt rock. Afterwards, we hang out on the steps outside. We talk about composing images. I feel like I haven't composed a single one since I've been here, just turned the camera on and off. Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 97] Day 15 In my dream, my dog runs away because I left the door wide open. I spend hours looking for...