Commensal

A twochannel installation utilizing both digital video and 16mm film Commensal focuses on the controversial figure of Issei Sagawa who gained notoriety in 1981 when as a graduate student in Paris he murdered a fellow student and engaged in acts of cannibalism After his release from a mental institution Sagawa returned to Japan and later appeared in innumerable documentaries and sexploitation films In contrast to earlier journalistic documentaries on Sagawa the film suspends moral judgment and explores a realm that eludes classification as either documentary or pure fiction to instead chart the ambiguous territory between crime fantasy and social realities between an individual and the economy of his public persona