Doggerel
Doggerel is a visual narrative about Europe’s modern-day traumas, confronting contemporary Western society and its socio-political ideologies, mythologies and fables. Nationalist tendencies and past tragedies are set in parallel with those of the present through an impressive sequence of rhythmically edited media images. Ryan employs music, rhyme and drumming alongside scenes of violence, protests and parades to evoke the story of Oskar Matzerath, the protagonist of Günter Grass’s novel The Tin Drum.
As the central figure in Doggerel, Oskar connects the Nazi occupation of Gdańsk and the rise of fascism with the current tensions in Europe – tensions driven by the rise in migration, the tightening of border controls in Europe and a failing belief in a society that can be positively engineered.
The defining moment of Doggerel is how it has us embody the psychological and sociological power of ‘the masses’ in protest, procession and parade. When the screens go black, Oskar plays the drum for three minutes, and as we listen in the darkness, the images seem to pass by once more.