Alongside a close analysis of the short-movie Blue (2019) by Manitoban artist Laura Magnusson, this article engages with the pain that comes from sexual trauma. Blue attests to the ongoingness and cyclical nature of traumatic pain, one that is negated by the legal apparatus that frames sexual assault trials. Through an understanding of the body as a somatic archive displaced in a waterscape, Blue provides an alternative language for otherwise inexpressible pain, and stands as the testimony that wasn’t allowed in court.
“Blue: A Somatic Archive of Pain,” Esse: Pain n°106, September 2022.