I Can See You

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Tracy Satchwill delves into women’s experiences and emotions during the witch hunt era in England, reflecting on the belief systems and power structures. Weaving her personal story into the work, the artist takes on the role of the accused witches by empathising with their feelings and subjection to irrational perceptions.

The film draws inspiration from a Lincolnshire folklore book, witch hunt cases, and the theories around women accused of witchcraft to create a fictional narrative based in a contemporary world. The script merges historical narratives with current dialogue, covering immigration news during Brexit; the pandemic; and online influencers. The characters, such as newsreaders, vloggers, experts and neighbourhood watch, create a frenzy of beliefs, fear and anxiety, in comparison with the theories during the witch hunt era. 

In I Can See You, Satchwill merges various techniques, including green screen, location shots and collage animation, with archival materials, text and mark-making. Within the digital film, she explores analogue approaches, such as distortion, overlaying textures, erasing and cutting.

The film, together with selfie face filters, was created during a six-month artist residency at North Lincolnshire Museum and supported by North Lincolnshire Council and Arts Council England through the Humber Museums Partnership.  

The augmented reality face filters, inspired by the museum's taxidermy collections and witches' familiars, were also exhibited as QR codes at the Mana Contemporary, Miami, as part of Digital Art Month in association with Contemporary Art and Digital Art Fair. 

I Can See You won Best Original Concept for Experimental Filmmaking at the Jane Austen International Film Festival and received two Honourable Mentions from the Experimental Forum and the NFT|New Media|Experimental|Digital Arts Film Festival. 

Credits

Music by Peter Richards