Slow Graffiti is a near shot-for-shot remake of the film The Perfect Human by Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth (1967). Da Corte’s narration differs from the original, however, and where Leth’s film struck an anthropological tone, Da Corte’s is more surreal, ambiguous, and even philosophical. Leth’s film presents two people for the camera and narrator to scrutinize: one male, one female, and both white, they are described as – and supposedly depict – the model of heteronormativity. Characterized as perfect humans throughout, there are problematic undertones. The Perfect Human offers an aloof sense of knowing style, like a fashion commercial of its day. Da Corte’s film sets out to undermine these tropes and all the uncomfortable implications of the original with a sense of humour and pathos in equal measure.

Slow Graffiti replaces the white heteronormative figures with the artist performing as Frankenstein – specifically Boris Karloff’s cinematic version. The suggestion is clear; in the original story by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is composed of many different parts, from different bodies, and so the critique of identity is explicit. Even the white, heteronormative ideals of society that are historically ingrained in the West are themselves constructions and highly influenced by fashion, cinema and media. The voiceover and audio track, which diverges into critical theory, speculation and philosophy, is in turn suggestive, reflective, and poetic. Combined with the score by Devonté Hynes, the obvious humour in the visual depiction is poignantly undercut to reveal criticality and pathos.