Domestication opens with artist Liam O’Brien returning home to a figure made from cleaning products: a mop, bin, washing tub, drying rack and latex gloves. As the narrative of the film unfolds, his loving gaze ignites a strange erotic encounter with the humanoid stack of cheap domestic objects that soon descends into violence.
Blurring the distinction between product and person, this striking video work addresses contemporary societal pressures and the resulting sense of confusion and alienation felt by many in today’s world. Specifically, the artist conveys the difficulty in resolving feelings of desire, intimacy and belonging, and how these emotions can be appropriated, exploited and negated by technology.