Diana Policarpo

The Oracle, 2020

Vídeo, som, 10’ loop
Ed. 1/2 + 2 EC

With The Oracle, Diana Policarpo draws connections between women’s struggles for justice, from the witch trials to abortion rights today, through a wide range of historical accounts of ergotism, bringing together drawings and archival material in a collage of moving images.
The Oracle highlights the role ergot may have played in the witch trials in Europe and beyond. The reason why women in particular were affected could be that they used ergot mushrooms for abortions. It is possible that a side effect of the ergot-induced miscarriages were hallucinations and convulsions, which were then taken as signs of witchcraft.