Silence observed in the Jesus cage

From nine years of research and hundreds of hours of video footage, audio interviews, and still photographs, Chosen (Custody of the Eyes) is Abbie’s feature-length documentary-in-progress focusing on one woman: Heather, evolving over time, from one identity to another – Sister Amata – as she integrates into a religious order that follows an ancient rule. Chosen is a collaborative endeavour; Abbie lent HD video cameras to Heather/Sister Amata, a painter and former blogger, and to the nuns. Set within the enclosed community, Chosen (Custody of the Eyes) tracks the nuns’ public and private performances in a highly ritualistic space – a rich material culture focused on the spiritual realm; the liminal phase that is the process of becoming (Heather attempting to construct a new individual and cultural identity, and becoming Sister Amata); the belief that one is ‘chosen’ and questions of fate and agency; and the certainty of adopting the rigid lifestyle of an ancient rule, contrasted by the nuns’ acceptance that they will not know the results of their sacrifice until the afterlife.