Artist Statement

These paintings in oil are from the series I waited for something to happen, painted after the film Je tu il elle (Belgium/ France 1975), the first feature by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman (Brussels 1950 - Paris 2015). Akerman wrote, directed, and starred in the piece at the age of 24. I began making works looking at the film early in 2015, some months before Akerman died by her own hand. These ones are from 2020. They are painted from the opening scene of the film, wherein the protagonist Julie (Akerman) is in a small apartment, her voice describing how she moved all of the furniture out of the room, until there was just a mattress left on the floor. Some days or weeks pass. Julie lies on the mattress and writes and rewrites letters to her former lover, and eats sugar out of a paper bag. She spills all the sugar on the floor. Outside it is wintertime. The action moves in and out of frame as the camera stays static, or slowly pans left to right. Julie describes the tiny room and then she leaves. The audience is aware of moments and long minutes passing us by.