#428 Erkenningsnummer P708816
MAY 4, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2
A taxing job
Flanders’ energy minister Annemie Turtelboom resigns following the approval of a controversial tax levy on electricity \4
politics \ p4
BUSiNESS \ p6
innovation \ p7
Onstage education
Bronks theatre makes a huge difference in the lives of Brussels’ pupils by having them create and perform plays to enthusiastic audiences \9
education \ p9
art & living \ p10
A people’s history
A new book about a seminal work by Stijn Streuvels revisits the Flemish novelist who immortalised rural life in West Flanders \ 14
Tracing their footsteps Family chronicle tells a universal story of migration
© Courtesy Argos
Tom Peeters More articles by Tom \ flanderstoday.eu
Following in the footsteps of her ancestors who fled Europe to escape religious persecution, Flanders-based South African artist and filmmaker Wendy Morris walked the coastline from the north of France through Belgium to the Netherlands.
M
uch of Wendy Morris’ work has to do with western perceptions of Africa. Although the artist has lived in Belgium for more than 20 years, she grew up in Namibia, when the country was ruled by South Africa’s apartheid regime. Morris is able to speak about issues of identity and migration from a personal perspective, but with a universal appeal, as evidenced in her new exhibition, Off by Heart and Out of Breath: A Silva Rerum. On display at Argos Centre for Art and Media in Brussels, the exhibition recounts the story of Morris’ ancestors, the French (but Dutch-speaking) Huguenots, who fled to South Africa through Belgium and the Netherlands to escape religious persecution in France. “The Edict of Nantes gave the Protestant Huguenots the right to practise their religion and forbade their persecution by the state,” Morris says. “But after it was revoked by Louis XIX in 1685, the Huguenots were silenced and were
forbidden to leave France. Of course they did, en masse and at great risk.” To make the story more personal, Morris decided to follow in the footsteps of her forbears. In July 2014, she walked from Guînes in northern France to Vlissingen in the Netherlands. For 10 days, she maintained a travel log and explored the local fauna but returned home without any tangible evidence. “I wanted to feel what my ancestors had felt,” she says. “Not knowing which route they followed, I took the quickest one, along the beach.” Morris, who lives with her Flemish husband in West Flanders, often used to reflect on what makes her different from her partner, not just in terms of genetics or geographical background but also culture. “And then I found out my ancestors were living only about 100 kilometres from where we live now,” she says. That’s where her personal project gained a universal perspective. “At some point, we will all be refugees or migrants. Just look at my family: We’ve always been on the move, and not just from Europe to Africa but also within South Africa. Constantly moving, there and back.” Morris was previously an artist in residence at the In Flanders Field Museum, where she produced the film Off the Record about South African involvement in the First World War. The film is based on a diary left by her great-uncle, Walter Giddy, who died during the war. “I discovered that it was
actually written by his sister and by my grandmother. They were trying to hold on to his memory.” Morris grew up thinking she had English heritage, but research into her family’s genealogy revealed a more complex past. “I found that my ancestors include the Dutch, the French Huguenots, a German and two slaves – one from West Africa and one from Indonesia,” she says. “So I’ve been both the perpetrator and the victim, and not just this white South African who was always on the wrong side of history. That made it really interesting and much more difficult to deal with.” While working on her next film, In Heir to the Evangelical Revival, Morris realised that her country of birth was determined by her ancestors’ religious convictions. “I started to wonder who they were before they left Europe,” she says. “With so many people coming to Europe now, I wanted to learn why my ancestors had gone in the opposite direction.” She made the film in 2013 using stop-motion animation of charcoal drawings. The constant alteration and reshooting of each drawing was like researching what she calls “the bruises of history”. “The use of charcoal mimics our past,” she explains. “It always leaves a trace, carries its own history and moves on.” Over time, Morris’ art has become more interdisciplinary. Off by Heart and Out of Breath includes a film, audio recordings and even a dream chamber. The diary is what connects the media together. “All my ideas are in there,” says Morris. The exhibition, along with past work, has also helped her continued on page 5