Film screening and conversation between Martine Gutierrez and her mother
On Sunday 6 September the artist Martine Gutierrez will attend a special screening of her film The Search for True Beauty. After the screening she will engage in conversation with her mother, who has played an important role in nurturing Martine’s creativity from an early age and whose influence can be felt in various ways throughout Wunderkind, Gutierrez’s current large-scale solo exhibition at Huis Marseille.
During this special event, mother and daughter will revisit the making of The Search for True Beauty, a film Martine made at the age of ten, and reflect on the creative freedom that shaped her childhood: a world of play, transformation and self-invention that continues to resonate throughout her artistic practice today.
Wundermom
Creativity and self-expression were central to Martine Gutierrez’s childhood, as was the special relationship she has always had with her mother; she was encouraged to play, experiment and explore identity freely, without preconceived ideas or restrictions. Martine’s mother also carefully preserved her childhood and family archive, including dresses, puppets, sketchbooks, toys and other objects that inspired Martine to inhabit different characters and explore multiple sides of herself.
‘Identity is a performance,’ Martine says. ‘With a bit of practice you can be almost anything.’
Martine’s layered identity and the many ‘stand-ins’ in her self-portraits build on her childhood creations, in which reality and myth continually flowed into one another.
The Search for True Beauty
The Search for True Beauty was Martine Gutierrez’s directorial debut. She wrote the text and music, and directed, narrated and performed in the film. For the soundtrack she composed original flute music – one of several instruments she studied in childhood.
Using a single tripod and simple in-camera editing tools, Martine transformed her backyard into an expansive set. In the lead, as the film’s ingénue, she cast her nanny as Julia, ‘a beautiful but not giving girl sent on a journey by a nymph named Gabrielle’. On screen, Martine plays Gabrielle, in addition to every supporting character, including Gazelda, a hostile landowner, and Luffa, a wise wizard.
The Search for True Beauty, 1999
Digitised Super VHS, 20 min. 01 sec.
1.30pm: Doors open
2pm: Film screening begins
2.20pm: Conversation
3pm: Opportunity to continue the conversation over drinks in the bookshop
The event will be held in English.
Max. participantsLimited capacity, please order a ticket via the link
CostAdmission fee excl. museum entrance: €7.50
