It started with a conversation between two friends during that first COVID-19 quarantine weekend in March 2020. Acknowledging how lucky they were to be able to work from home in New York, Moroccan-born video artist Meriem Bennani and Israeli-born documentary filmmaker Orian Barki confessed their relief in being forced to stay in—and the ensuing creative freedom. “It was hard to take anything seriously, in terms of deadlines. So we thought, Why don’t we do something for fun, kind of like the work you make when you’re a teenager?” recalls Bennani. “We both had an idea of doing something very existential.”
Selecting a pair of 3D lizards from Bennani’s character library—“they were cute and their shiny skin worked best against the live-action backgrounds,” says Barki—the duo created a short animated film based on a discussion they’d had and published it on Bennani’s Instagram feed March 17, 2020.
Lizard 1: “I mean to be honest I’m kind of into this confinement thing because I feel like I’ve been fantasizing about not having any plans...”
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Lizard 2: “That’s such a quarantine week 1 thing to say.”
With dialogue that brilliantly reflected the anxiety, boredom, and absurd humor of the quarantine life and original live-action animation, the lizards were an instant success on Instagram. Fueled by the popularity of the first video, Bennani and Barki created seven more episodes, with a new one publishing on Bennani’s feed every few weeks until July 5, 2020.“We really wanted to capture the mood of a given week—it seemed like things were changing on a weekly basis—but without being too literal,” says Barki. “We wanted to find ways to add to the conversation with tenderness but also sharpness and not just repeat the conversation.” In 2021, 2 Lizards was acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art, where it is part of the permanent collection.
VERANDA is proud to partner with the Whitney Museum of American Art to amplify the voices of female artists in honor of International Women’s Day 2023. For this collaboration, each artist contributed a piece she feels speaks to the name of the initiative: “The Art of Moving Forward.” Women are not just surviving but also thriving, moving ever forward to lead, define, and shape a challenging world, and these artists exemplify that.
This program is being presented in partnership with Johnnie Walker, which has awarded more than $1 million in grants to women-owned businesses and is helping women overcome historical barriers by showcasing stories of their progress.
