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Matinee: 'Anne's Story'
14 September 2024
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 569th in our series of Saturday matinees today: Anne's Story.
This 3:07 production was made as part of the We Us Them exhibitions at Belfast Exposed Gallery in Belfast, Ireland, and the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne, Australia.
The video doesn't give any clue about who the narrator is but on Lesley Cherry's site, we learn this about the project:
Belfast artists Deirdre Robb and Lesley Cherry presented a hybrid photographic and audio installation, collaboratively developed with Irish Traveller women. Opposing the prejudiced experiences by these women the artists created a celebratory and observational response to their cultural values, ways of living and the future of their communities. Incorporated into the artwork were images from the Belfast Exposed Travellers archive reflecting on their heritage and present-day social issues. This project amplifies the female voices from Traveller communities and considers their place in history and in shaping their culture and country.
The Irish Traveller woman featured in this piece is, as the title would suggest, named Anne. And the narrator tells her story in a style that is refreshingly familiar and devoid of drama.
Yet, as you assemble some sense of the life Anne has lived and what matters to her now, it is hard not to feel the push and pull of life's drama.
We won't divulge the details. Even after watching this production, whose black-and-white stills are as elegant as the audio, we feel they are too intimate for us to step in the middle and spoil the mood.
But you may find it a little hard to decode the accent, so here's a jump start:
"Anne was an older lady," it begins. "She was really nice." And it ends, "And she was really happy to have found her son again. And for him to care for her this time. And to be finally settled."
And in between you'll hear -- and see -- Anne's story.