Flanders Today (BE)
Mother’s Pride
Article by Sabine Clappaert
September 2013
ENG
“The Umbilical Vein” the upcoming retrospective of Belgian mother and daughter artist duo ‘Memymom’ is sure to ruffle a few feathers when it premieres at the Flemish Arts Centre ‘De Brakke Grond’ in Amsterdam this Thursday.
Images of a young Lisa De Boeck photographed by her mother Marilène Coolens between 1990 and 2003 form the centre of the intimate mother-daughter retrospective. The cross-generational collaboration, which continues today, began with what the pair describes as a ‘hangover from the past’. “The Umbilical Vein” captures this past. Coolens began photographing her daughter at the age of five and continued until she turned eighteen. Images of a nine-year old Lisa sitting on a bed in a Pucci and high heels, others of her pouting seductively at the camera a la Marilyn Monroe or posing as Catwoman capture the transformation of a girl into a young woman over the course of thirteen years.
The photographs will leave few people cold. The bizarre images taunt the viewer, demanding to be given a comfortable place within an understandable context. Are the images a reflection on current affairs of the time, or an innocent ritual between mother and daughter? The duo found inspiration for the fantasy characters Lisa portrays in their experience of the nineties, the decade during which the photos were taken: icons, pedestrians on the streets of Brussels, extravagant stereotypes.
Looking at the photos, it is striking to note that none show Lisa laughing, and at first glance, a sense of tragedy surrounds them. It is only on closer inspection that the duo’s sense of humour and Lisa’s rootedness in child’s daily reality becomes visible in tiny details: look closely and you’ll see that Catwoman has a faint trail of spaghetti sauce in the corner of her mouth. People react strongly to the duo’s work. Some appreciate the way in which they play with the concepts of personal identity, metamorphosis and family relations; others – often mothers who have daughters – question the way in which Coolens portrays her daughter. Lisa De Boeck, now twenty-eight and a photographer and video artist in her own right, is quick to counter the allegation of inappropriateness: “I was like a cat who knew exactly what to do to get food: I knew what I had to do to make my mom pick up her camera,” she begins, “I loved being in front of the camera. I would find a scarf, put on her lipstick or high heels…” Coolens too says that the collaboration with her daughter has always been very intuitive. “It’s also the reason we named the retrospective ‘The Umbilical Vein’,” adds Lisa. “There is no connection more fundamental – or invisible to others – between a mother and her child than the umbilical vein.”
To Lisa, the implicit bond with her mother is fundamental in the strength of the images. “It was a game I could only play in the safety of my mother’s presence. She gave me the freedom to play without misunderstanding the characters I was playing, and she did it without saying a word. Now that I’m grown up, I realise how privileged I am to have such an intuitive bond with her – both as a daughter and later also as an artist. Still today, our bond as artists is fluent and spontaneous. And the same things still inspire us: places, people, especially women. That’s why the feminine is so often a theme in our work.”
The retrospective, which was commissioned by De Brakke Grond’s director of visual arts Veerle Devreese and Director Piet Menu, showcases over 80 photos out of more than one thousand taken over thirteen years. It is interesting to see the changes in the photographs as the years progress – not only in a young Lisa growing up, but also in the changing dynamic of the collaboration between mother and daughter.
“When Lisa was very young, the photos were more spontaneous and playful, they were less directed than those in which she is fifteen and wanted to have her own say in how the photos were taken. You can see that in the images,” says Coolens. “The way in which Lisa chose to play with the camera – on her own terms – is perhaps most visible in the photos “I’m an Old Woman Now”, in which she longingly pouts at the camera, and the photo “The Misfit”, taken a few moments later in which she decides to act grumpy and cantankerous.” Lisa laughs, “I find it fascinating to see myself in those early photos. I don’t remember posing for those first photos so it’s really interesting to look back as an adult on my child-self.”
The last photo in the ‘Umbilical Vein’ series was taken just after Lisa turned eighteen. Titled 'La Veuve Joyeuse' (The Merry Widow), it shows Lisa in a long black coat, a black ostrich feather in her hair, gazing pensively off in the distance. Why was this the last picture taken? Why did the duo stop the project just as Lisa turned eighteen? “My dad had died the year before. The last picture was a way for us to process that loss. Of course it doesn’t solve anything, but it does confront the beautiful brutality of life.”
Marilène and Lisa continue to collaborate. Over the past ten years, they have worked on more than 10 projects together. The duo’s recent work continues to push the boundaries of emotional aesthetics, stopping just short of the erotic. “We create dark fairy tales and invent mysteries in which anything your mind conjures up could happen,” De Boeck smiles enigmatically.
Opening night at Brakke Grond
‘Umbilical Vein’ opens at De Brakke Grond on Thursday. It includes an introduction of Memymom by the Flemish artist Michaël Aerts and a musical performance by Roland Van Campenhout. The official opening of the exhibition also marks the start of a crowd funding initiative for the book ‘The Umbilical Vein’, for which Flemish best-selling author Saskia De Coster wrote a story.
About De Brakke Grond
“Het Vlaams Cultuur Huis” (The house of Flemish Culture) De Brakke Grond first opened its doors in 1981. The thinking behind the project dates back almost a decade earlier however, when the then Flemish and Dutch ministers of culture agreed to investigate new forms of collaboration. One of the proposals tabled entailed Flanders opening a cultural centre in Amsterdam and The Netherlands doing the same in Brussels. On May 23rd 1981, De Brakke Grond welcomed its first visitor. Today, the centre focuses on showcasing the best Flemish theatre, performance, dance, music, visual arts, photography and film. Its main aim is to facilitate artistic innovation and cross-fertilization.