So, this was the cause of my 'poor cultural upbringing', who needs that when you have a dog you can talk to, cats to run after, dragonflies to catch and lizards to search for?
This is also the reason why I show so many natural scenes in my works. I love the grandeur of the oceans as much as the cuteness of little beatles crawling on the floor. They make me feel at home, they fill me with wonder, with love and make me forget myself for a moment when looking at them. Next to being shown that plants and animals are pretty and good company, my parents also made us very aware that not everyone has this caring attitude and lots of nature is being destroyed. Me and my brother collected money to rescue panda bears in China and my family spent some time helping toads to safely cross the motorway during breading seasons. Then, a little older, when studying photography and trying to read some intelligent stuff, I encountered the following words: “A feeling of sadness arises in people, when looking at a beautiful work of art or being in a beautiful piece of nature. It reminds them of the absence of this beauty in normal days and they wonder, why not everyday life can be like this.” At that time I had but had a little taste of how daily human life can take all magic and joy away from you. But I understood that it could be true, that even though beauty is all around, you can definitely reach a point where you can not see the magic anymore.
And though I was already showing ordinary but pretty things, from that moment on I started to document more consciously the grandeur of daily life that is available to us all. Until today my aim is to help people to not forget to see that the magic is still there, so they'd be happier, and all those wondrous things I hold so dear will not be overlooked and (accidentally) destroyed.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
Well, I have great respect for all artists making art out of trash, just trash. They put something new in the world, but without putting more stuff in the world, without 'polluting', so to say, and possibly even some trash is extracted from places where it could really do harm.
Next to that, of course, they help in raising awareness about the trash-problem which is greatly affecting the health of all life on this planet. And they do this in quite a direct or clear and sometimes confronting way. My approach to convey a message is quite different, more indirect as I work with emotions, moods, poetry. Including spoken word, as I did in 'lit' was a way to communicate a message more directly.
We all give our own twist to a story, and I have really enjoyed to play with that. To use a certain degree of abstraction to just create an open space for people to loose their minds in. In 'AERO' one is still very much guided by the musical sounds (by Portuguese composer João Madeira), but in 'listen' I myself got lost in giving it interpretations, it's a new one every time I am asked to explain the artwork. And this is all fun, but I don't like many of the things going on in the world today, so maybe I should speak a little louder, articulate a little clearer, leave less room for free interpretation. ´lit´ was a first test to do so. Also the trash artists made me think of how to make my art more sustainable. Video art, the way I do it at least, does not create new objects, so in that regard mirjamsvideos is nicely 'green'. My website is hosted by an eco friendly company, I don't buy unnecessary gadgets and use equipment until it is basically dead. And...moving to green electricity! I'm doing my best to not just make mirjam's videos, but to be mirjamsvideos. I want to reach the level of dedication I see in Theo Janssen, the artist making 'Standbeests'. Though not really environmental friendly, because he makes new life forms (kinetic sculptures, animals that walk on the beach) from plastic tubes, it is so beautiful to hear him talk about his creations. His life seems to be completely dedicated to his animals, they are really alive for him. Theo's goal is to make them able to survive on their own on the beach. It's really endearing, but has amazingly complicated science behind it and an utter immersion in the world of his beasts. Maybe one day my videos could live their own life on the net, take over office computers and play wherever they please.
Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
Actually almost everything is shot in the moment. I take my camera for a walk and then we just find stuff, magic just appears. I like this way of working because it proves my point that beauty really is all around, you just need to be able to see it.
What usually happens is that, using this strategy, I manage to shoot a few scenes I really like and in there I find a few that look related. Then a more conscious search starts for scenes that complement those I already have, either because they are similar, or because they contradict.
At this point I vaguely know what the story I am going to tell is about, I will know the theme so to say. And I will more deliberately decide where to go with my camera. For 'lit' for example, when I arrived at this point I knew the story had something to do with change and plunging in and I had a lot of imagery from the ocean. So I decided to get a waterproof camera and go along with a group of friends who regularly go surfing. I asked my friend Steven if I could film Mati, his cat and I happily accepted an invitation for a hike along the breathtaking Alentejo coast.