Björk, that Icelandic elf who deigns to bless us with her music, has shared a belated video for her song “Tabula Rasa,” which appeared on the 2017 album Utopia.
On the track itself, the avant-garde artist laments the state of the world we are passing down to younger generations, from the failings of the patriarchy to the impending disaster of climate change. However, she encourages the growth of a new society in which those inheriting our mistakes will do better, proclaiming, “Break the chain of the fuck-ups of the fathers / It is time for us women to rise and not just take it lying down.”
Tobias Gremmler, who directed the video, says of his vision in its YouTube description:
When creating the video, I was deeply inspired by the music and lyrics of Tabula Rasa. The visual transformation of Björk into faun-like flowers and mountainous landscapes embodies the utopian concept of a harmonious coexistence between nature and human based on empathy.
The video shows Björk’s face uncannily superimposed on a vaguely anthropomorphic, undulating shape. At times the figure looks like some yonic piece Georgia O’Keeffe would paint while on hallucinogens, or a pale, alien sea creature pulled from the depths of the Mariana Trench.
Watch the video for “Tabula Rasa” below.