Family
Cette vidéo promotionnelle est une animation de la pochette deluxe de Vulnicura.
Concept Art
Andrew Thomas Huang à propos de la vidéo
She came back to me because she [felt] that [what was shown in Black Lake] was only 50% of that character, and that there’s another 50% of this persona that she’s been in for this past year-and-a-half to two years, that is much more positive and resolved in itself. She invited me to do the physical album cover because I had been there with her on this journey. So we went back to Iceland."
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A moving image version of the album cover, which features Björk fossilised within an Icelandic rock, her chest split by a wound or vulva, was released as a sort-of video for the song Family (shown above). Unlike the long process of Black Lake, the gestation for this work, and also the VR video for Stonemilker, filmed on the same trip, was swift. "We came up with this on-site narrative of the whole full story of Vulnicura, but in two minutes," says Huang. "That’s why we insist that Family is not a music video, it’s more like a short film that shows both sides of that character."Creative Review - Avril2015
While we were doing all this, she wanted to create, in her words, a moving album cover. I thought she meant like a GIF. But it turned out, while we did the “Stonemilker” shoot, we happened to have her for a few days on the stage where I was going to shoot the album cover. We ended up instead just shooting more motion of her, stitching herself back together.
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James Merry at the time was also expanding with his embroidery. It was honestly a playful session of, “Let’s just see what comes out of this.” We ended up making this short film that kind of told the whole Vulnicura story, of her moving from this tombstone fossil where she’s pushing herself out of this grave, and she’s being splayed open. As she’s being splayed open, this new woman comes out that’s stitching herself back together.
As we were making this together, it was like, “This is the full story of this album, what song should we put to it ?” “Family” was the cornerstone song on the album that really also embodied the different movements of this whole album, from the heartbreak to the healing to the empowerment at the end. So we chose that song. It was a bit confusing, I think, for a lot of people, because people were like, “Wait, so is this a full video or not ?” But really, it was meant to be a short film.Red Bull Music Academy - Octobre 2016
Björk à propos de la vidéo
The “Family” video was made by me and James Merry with Andy Huang. Yes, it was something we talked about from the beginning. Out of all the songs, this is the one song off the album that was like the mother, the core of the whole album. We started talking about this song a lot. The fact that the character of the album does this backward bend, and it’s a way of self-help. She has this wound she has to deal with, and she sews it herself with her hand. Then she stands up and walks away. It’s a really simple thing, but it echoes through the whole album. The hands you’re talking about are Andy Huang’s representation of that. It’s been a really enjoyable collaboration between me, Andy and James. We’ve done a few of the videos off the album together, and that came out of that.
Red Bull Music Academy - Novembre 2016
