Björk has shared a fantastical new animated video for Victimhood, directed by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and Pierre-Alain Giraud, which was debuted at her Cornucopia performance at the Altice Arena in Lisbon. The visual is released alongside an accompanying interview between Gabríela and Björk, where they explore the themes, the characters and their stories.
The video is an extension of the world Björk created for her album Fossora. Victimhood discusses Jungian archetypes of self-pity, sacrifice and matriarchal care, within a melancholic composition that unfurls slowly across jagged electronics, foghorn clarinets and layered vocal harmonies.
Director Gabríela Friðriksdóttir told us: “I was absolutely fascinated by the song. I couldn’t forget it, I had some dreams about it too. It was a deep connection from the first time I heard it. The song deals with things that I often think about, it’s about self-pity and how ridiculous you were or how funny you were in a situation, or in a strange place where you had hard times, and then you see yourself.
“Instead of pointing at somebody else all the time, it’s so nice to rediscover yourself. To break through the concrete mask of a certain feeling at a certain time. I think in the lyrics themselves, there’s this poetry about a human situation that’s really welcoming for everyone, I think everyone can understand it”.
Björk continues; “I sort of have this illusion idea of myself as being this kind of optimist. But you have to be truthful. It’s trickier to catch the tail of the self-pity for an optimist. Sometimes it becomes the role of the women, in difficult situations to take on the catharsis and emotional work, and if there’s some dark shadows or forces in a situation, we’ll convert it into sort of good energy, for other family members, so they don’t have to, we will take care of it.
“That’s a strange kind of victim hat too, you choose to do that, nobody asked you to. That’s maybe where the humour comes in. It’s very interesting. I just love this painting so much. These characters are so magical, they just have such deep, deep meaning for me”.
Victimhood is taken from Björk’s Grammy-nominated album Fossora, named as one of the New York Times’ and Pitchfork’s Albums of the Year.
