Cumming has said that it is his intention to question "the myth of the innocent, invisible photographic witness." Borrowing from what he call "experimental ethnograph" Cumming consciously positions himselfnot only as investigator but also participant, caretaker and friend. Thus his examinations of human frailty are always tempered by a compassion that stems from his own involvment in the situation records.
Marcy Goldberg, Visions du réel Festival (Nyon)
His real-life characters may be physically repellent and spiritually broken, and they represent what one does not want to face: sickness, aging, and mortality. These are not fairy tales with happily-ever-after endings, and yet the same time they give us hope because they strive to confront reality at its strongest.
Sally Berger, Museum of Modern Art (New York)
• Cut the parrot
• After Brenda
• Karaoke
• Shelter
• Erratic Angel
• Petit Jésus
• Trip
• Four Storeys
• A Short Lesson
• Docu-Duster
• Wrap
• If only I
• Culture
• Cold Harbor
• My Dinner with Weegee
• Voice: off
• Lock's Way
• Karaoke
• Shelter
• Optional French subtitles
• Visions du Réel: off
• Atelier with Donigan Cumming 24:00 (DVD3)
• Eight essays on Donigan Cumming's works in video
• Two bilingual booklets inside
