Exhibition
Gabriela Vanga
Tom and Jerry, the famous cat-and-mouse antagonists, have chased each other in countless animated cartoons. Of course, Tom, the clumsy cat, never wins against Jerry, the nimble and mischievous mouse; Tom, in other words, has come to epitomize failure.
Gabriela Vanga, in her video entitled “What if Tom invented Jerry”, adds another aspect to this metaphorical constellation by resorting to a little visual manipulation: Jerry is erased, becomes invisible. What if he didn’t actually exist, what if he were just the phantom of the poor cat whose life is not made miserable by the mouse but by his own doing?
Gabriela Vanga, What if Tom invented Jerry?, 2003
