Focusing on what usually goes unseen, Mary subverts the conventional run of a film in a powerful and revealing act. Sara Brannan’s work is based around the appropriation and manipulation of films in the public domain. Using them as a found object they are re-edited into short videos focusing on the female lead character. Only footage of the female alone in the frame is used; the rest of the film is removed and the images are edited together to run consecutively, following the chronological order of the original film. This re-editing interrupts the patriarchal narrative structure and makes visible the usually invisible editing that is demanded by realism. This restructuring provides the viewer with the opportunity to comprehend a new reality. By choosing to use pre‐existing film the authorial role of the director is supplanted with that of the editor.

Sara Brannan’s Mary was shortlisted for the Installation and Performance category as part of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2012. This year’s Art Prize is now open for entries, and invites artists to submit their work into any category: Installation and Performance, Painting and Drawing, Three Dimensional Design and Sculpture, and Photographic and Digital Art. There will be two winners: a Main Prize winner and a Student Prize winner. Prizes include an eight-week group exhibition in York, UK, editorial coverage in Aesthetica Magazine, publication in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology and £1000 for the Main Prize winner and £500 for the Student Prize winner. Enhancing this fantastic array of prizes, a new prize has just been added in partnership with the Art Collective, comprising six months’ studio space for the Main Prize winner and six mentoring sessions for the Student Prize winner. Deadline for entries is 31 August.

For more details visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/artprize. To buy or download a copy of the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology visit www.aestheticamagazine.com/shop#ap.