high.
Dice.
A Bathory Tale.
HIGH dice a bathory tale FIRST BEGAN AS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN MYSELF (MONIKA) AND yASMEEN dANIEL. I WAS IN MILWAUKEE VISITING FAMILY, AND DUE TO WINTER STORMS ON THE EAST COAST, ENDED UP STAYING EXTRA DAYS. I had been obsessed with the story of elizabeth bathory, comparing it to my own struggles with ideals of beauty. what is beauty to a black queer woman? how do i see myself?
More importantly - through what lens do we define ourselves as being? i think the story of countess bathory exhibits the depravity one can sink into, when insecurities run deep. elizabeth bathory was a hungarian countess who killed young women in order to bathe in their blood. she had a reported 650 victims.
Now, we present liza, PLAYED BY YASMEEN DANIEL. Her character in high dice is a young, mixed race black woman who feels conflicted about her looks. on one hand, she faces privilege due to her light SKIN, still retains the insecurity of never obtaining ACCEPTANCE FROM A PRIMARILY WHITE ALT SCENE IN THE MIDWEST. TOKENIZATION, MINIMIZATION, ANTI-BLACKNESS.
WE FOLLOW HER THROUGH A turbulent NIGHT, BEFORE SHE DECIDES TO CLAIM HER FIRST VICTIM. sHE BATHES IN HER VICTIM'S BLOOD - SATIATING THE YEARNING FOR SELF ACCEPTANCE. IN A WAY, HER VENGEANCE IS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE FRAGILITY OF EUROCENTRIC BEAUTY AND wESTERN IDENTITY. THE PEDESTAL OF CIS, WHITE, WOMANHOOD. MISOGYNOIR AND ITS LONELY RAMIFICATIONS. COLORISM WITHIN AND IN OUR COMMUNITIES. it's all about blood, in the end.
