Secret Behavior Magazine (US)
Issue 02 Family
Words by Mike Newton
Winter 2015
ENG
Some people may have assumed that Marilène was damaging her daughter. It does look a bit like an overeager stage-mom, confusing the beauty of childhood playtime with the competitive, gloss-coated, big-B Beauty of television and magazines. The Photos in The Umbilical Vein were shot by Marilène Coolens (b. 1953) between 1990 and 2003; they show her daughter, Lisa De Boeck (b. 1985) as she goes from age 5 to 18.
De Boeck says that “I was like a cat who knew exactly what to do to get food. I knew what I had to do to make my mum pick up her camera. I loved being in front of the camera. I would find a scarf, put on her lipstick or high heels...” This work, it seems, was always a collaboration. Even when De Boeck was just a small child, encouraged to playact in front of her mom’s Nikon, she must have known that she was creating something: something that – unlike simple child’s play – would outlive its own moment of creation.
Pop culture doesn’t last long, but De Boeck and Coolens used fleeting fashion imagery of the 90s to document a tender, profound and slightly dangerous bond. We know that their bond must be deep and fraught , because they’re artistic collaborators. They’re also mother and daughter.