Single-channel video
1′ 39″
The idea for this piece came from my interest and involvement in the issue of missing children. During the production of the Lost Child series (2005-2009) I got acquainted with different Internet archives, such as the Procuraduría General de la República (Mexican Attorney General’s Office), State Attorney’s Offices and NGO’s dedicated to the search of missing children.
The images used to report missing children are mostly snapshots and so there is a wide range of facial expressions. By setting the mouths in motion I felt that they were trying to communicate something and I imagined them singing the Mexican National Anthem. And so I recorded a typical elementary school Monday-morning-flag-ceremony, where boys and girls sing the National Anthem. Then I grouped the different facial expressions with the vowels and consonants of the hymn; and finally matched the lyrics and the music with the images, animating my archive of mouths.