Wrapping for a marginal citizen

by Sonja van Kerkhoff, 1994

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    


13 minutes, 26 seconds
Music: Michel Verheecke (Belgium),
Voice: Sonja van Kerkhoff,
Actors: 6 children.

English with a few New Zealand Māori words.



A quasi-biographical self-portrait of an artist and mother of young children where I use my own art objects as as backdrops or elements to compliment the narrative. The children's actions extend the narrative.

Two voices: a cynical one and an optimistic one 'converse' as images of eggs being played with, being forced into transparent egg-cups, being eaten and being broken merge between images of my art objects being played with by the children.

The "Wrapping," a long cloth bearing images of a baby with text directed at the viewer, occurs and reccurs throughout the video, reminding us of the dichotomy of the spectatorship of art. Are we the outsider, like the cloth or is the child staring at us the intruder?
We watch. The baby looks back at us.

And the children interact with texts and objects and perform. Their play is ambigious: is it natural, cultivated or child's play?

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Notions of what is normal or central are undercut by the texts - comments made to me when I had a baby with me on a train, in a gallery or on the street.

In the video the children serve as symbols of survival, resistence and diversity. They are the main actors, and the words, the voice and the objects, (such as egg cups, boxs, the coffee table, the over-size playing card, the wooden rods, the caged animal, and the long cloth) are peripheral catalysts.

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Still from a video by Sonja van Kerkhoff    

Shown

2011    Video Screening, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.

2008"Threads of the Day" Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.

2002"Domestically Spaced" Space Station Sixty-Five, London, U.K.

2001"TamTam" cultural festival, Leiden, The Netherlands.

2000"Korero korero" Sargeant Gallery, Whanganui, Aotearoa | New Zealand.

1995Gulden Vlam National video festival, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

1995Best Documentary, Gulden Vlam Regional video festival, Sittard.

1995    "Mycelium"   Landbouwbelang, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

1994    "Sonja's Choice" Kunstcentrum, Sittard, The Netherlands.

Other works related to this theme

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