Individual Presentation or Panel Title
Blankie: Harry Harlow's Modern Monkey
Abstract
In my premiere film, "Blankie," I explore the concepts of physical attachment in the aftermath of loss. Clinging to a palpable reminder of a lost sister, the child in this film played by local Jesse Clowers exhibits behaviors demonstrated by Harlow's monkey experiments in 1950s; when separated from maternal figures, these monkeys grew profoundly attached to the terrycloth mother in these experiments although she was not always the source of nourishment. The innate need for love and affection over physiological necessities questions Maslow’s hierarchy and humankind’s own instinctive inclinations and behaviors as primates and members of the animal kingdom. “Blankie” is a conceptual work introducing the character of the human rhesus monkey, which continues an ideological predisposition toward contact comfort, in conjunction with the suggestions of isolation and loss. Although the boy expresses a hope to begin again, his continued “relationship” with the blanket suggests a retrogression that will sustain a suspension of growth and development as the boy physically matures. The film opens with “Maryanne and I do everything together,” suggesting that the blanket that he calls Maryanne, referencing the loss of his sister, is his metaphorical terrycloth mother.
Location
Ballator Gallery
Start Date
20-4-2013 1:30 PM
End Date
20-4-2013 2:20 PM
Blankie: Harry Harlow's Modern Monkey
Ballator Gallery
In my premiere film, "Blankie," I explore the concepts of physical attachment in the aftermath of loss. Clinging to a palpable reminder of a lost sister, the child in this film played by local Jesse Clowers exhibits behaviors demonstrated by Harlow's monkey experiments in 1950s; when separated from maternal figures, these monkeys grew profoundly attached to the terrycloth mother in these experiments although she was not always the source of nourishment. The innate need for love and affection over physiological necessities questions Maslow’s hierarchy and humankind’s own instinctive inclinations and behaviors as primates and members of the animal kingdom. “Blankie” is a conceptual work introducing the character of the human rhesus monkey, which continues an ideological predisposition toward contact comfort, in conjunction with the suggestions of isolation and loss. Although the boy expresses a hope to begin again, his continued “relationship” with the blanket suggests a retrogression that will sustain a suspension of growth and development as the boy physically matures. The film opens with “Maryanne and I do everything together,” suggesting that the blanket that he calls Maryanne, referencing the loss of his sister, is his metaphorical terrycloth mother.