My Mother’s Lands

A mobile phone photo and a mobile phone video (0min08) of an egg cup filled with soil in which soya seeds have been buried. The images were taken at different times and show the process of growing soya beans. A black string is/was spun around the egg cup, in the centre is a cube made by the artist-researcher from an old birthday card from her son.

The impulse comes from the Absurd Questionnaire:

There is a space around me that is

Around you is a space that is

The egg cup symbolises the mountains in the Artist Researcher’s homeland, which are surrounded by a narrow border (the black cord). Buried in the valleys of these mountains are many life stories that are not allowed to blossom. The cube also contains soil and soya seeds. Their growth bursts the structures. The mother and the artist researcher themselves have tried to break these boundaries. Sometimes she has the feeling that she has succeeded, sometimes she has the opposite feeling.

In which countries did my mother grow up?

In which countries was my mother?

Which countries will she still be in?

What rules (social, cultural, political, historical) do these countries have?

How much do I know about them?

How many of these countries (continue to) live in me?

Which ones do I allow to grow inside me? Which ones don’t?