Bill Viola's "Acceptance" analyzed

Bill Viola’s 2010 video installation titled “Acceptance” is one that resonated strongly with me. The black and white video begins as a blurry image of a person looks as if lights are being cast down on it. As the video goes on the audience learns that it is actually water that is being rained down upon the figure. This figure gets easier to see and now the figure has transformed into a woman, the video continues and slowly the woman’s head begins to change. The audience sees the body of the naked lady but now, with what looks like Bill Viola’s head. The water slows to an almost stop towards the end of the video and the woman body with a man’s head walks forward through the water starring straight towards the audience.

When I began watching this video I had the word “acceptance” in my mind due to the title so I tried to associate what I was seeing with the definition. Acceptance defined is “in human psychology a person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest”. As the video went on I just tried to “accept” the images I was looking at. I think Viola was commenting not only to accept other people’s choices and appearances but also to accept yourself for who you are. The blurriness in the beginning makes our brains search for some kind of meaning to the unclear picture and then the naked woman emerges clearly and we see her walking through the “waterfall”. After watching a few times, I see that the woman is walking through the water possibly on her journey to becoming her “true self” which is the final image of a man with the body of a woman. It is possible that Viola was specifically touching upon transgender people’s struggles to be accepted and understood by others and by themselves.  Also a broader idea of to just accept what is in front of you without a further reason other than it is simply reality.  The naked body of the woman walking through the water might make some uncomfortable and the woman seems to be screaming during her “transformation” which indicates she could be in pain. This symbolizes that the path to changing and thus accepting these changes are not necessarily easy. The idea of accepting might also be an uncomfortable concept for people to grasp therefore it is important to be conscious of your psychological rejection of things that are unknown to us or not “normal” and to refrain from doing this. Discomfort and pain can be a part of growing and understanding the reality around you but at the end of the video the audience sees the calm, clear image of the naked woman with the head of a man, fully emerged from the water and moving forward.