Video
Installation exhibiting at
Directors Lounge Berlin Festival
I'm delighted to announce "Flower Girl"
will exhibit as an installation at the
Directors Lounge Berlin, Feb. 7th -
17th.
Flower Girl probes the
perception of innocence, and the
transition from childhood to womanhood,
during a time of confusing norms and
expectations. The project was activated
by a convergence of multiple events: my
daughter’s 13
th birthday; her
distress over not being a flower girl in
a family wedding; the participation of
women in the Arab Spring, and their
likely diminished role under rising
conservative movements; the right wing
“war on women” movement in the US; and
the National Institute of Mental
Health’s new findings on “Nature vs.
Nurture”.
The project includes a 4-channel video,
digital photographs, and small objects
(flower props) cast in resin. A key
component of the piece resides with the
flower props. Each flower is hand
painted and was chosen for its
floriographic name, based on the
Victorian Era practice of communicating
through flowers. Flowers have been a
symbol for femininity and womanhood
since ancient times, but the Victorians
created an elaborate code and system for
non-verbal communication. The nuances of
the language are mostly forgotten, but
the implications for women still linger
– the perfect woman must still be pure
(Lotus) of body, innocent (Daisy) in
spirit, and a wildcat (Poppy) in bed.
The 4-channel video will exhibit as an
installation during the Festival. The
video depicts, on separate screens, a
girl at play in a pictorial setting, and
an adult female systematically
constructing a silk flower. Their
relationship is ambiguous, and the piece
beckons the question: can the girl hold
on to her identity, cultivate her
aspirations, or is she predestined to be
a construct of her environs? And what of
the older woman? Is she the architect, a
symbol of cultural intentions, or an
obedient pawn?
Directors
Lounge Berlin
Directors Lounge is an ongoing
Berlin-based film and media-art platform
with year-round screenings and
exhibitions in Berlin and various other
cities. Annually the DL produces the
Directors
Lounge Festival, which takes
place during the
Berlinale Film
Festival. DL's focus is
alternative cinema, short films, new
media art, performance, installation,
plus creating an outpost for musicians,
poets, electronic improvisers, VJ’s,
DJ’s and shellac-spinners, designed to
focus on art, providing an alternative
and compliment to the famous Berlinale.