Just before the year was over a great joy was announced; there would be a family meeting, a joyous reunion! When the time came for this anticipated gathering the woods were abuzz as the nice friendly giant proudly walked into the forest greeted merrily by the good fairies and ecstatic family pet. The forest Faye entertained their kin by playing with fire as they trapezed through the night sky; so many came and told them that the guests enjoyed watching you. Sadly, the nuclear family was alienated after their controversial rendition of ‘what’s love got to do with it?’. Thank you for coming said the wicked giants as the evening drawn to a close and the overwhelming sense of ‘you can’t choose your family’ was left hanging in the air. Walking out of the woods the artificial family just chuckled to themselves remembering that it’s all relative. The end. -Linda Fletcher
You can check out the link above if you want to see me reading Linda’s version on Instagram. (unfortunately WordPress doensn’t allow me to embed the video, and my copy doesn’t want to upload here, but…
below is the video I uploaded reading the one I wrote 😉
Thank you Linda for participating in making up a story using the titles of the works for my upcoming exhibition at MContemporary gallery in Sydney. Only 21 days to go!!
Today I would like to share with you one of my works that will be on view from 21 July 2022 at MContemporary gallery in Sydney. This work : Alienated (from her family) will be part of my upcoming solo; Family meeting!
Hannalie Taute Alienated from her family 119 x 84 cm Photographic print on board, thread and rubber 2022
And I would like to thank everyone who submitted their stories (see previous post) which incorporated the titles of the works that will be part of my solo exhibition. (please note that those who used the titles to write their stories have not seen the images of the works) It is so exciting to read the various interpretations, because there are always more than one version of what happened at a family meeting;-) You are still welcome to share with me yours if you feel creative and have the time.
Today I am going to share the story Kaylee de Kock wrote using the titles of my works (see titles in bold below). Thank you Kaylee!!
*****
“You sit quietly in the corner at the family meeting. You knew this was not going to be a joyous reunion, but decided to come anyway.
Hannalie Taute Alienated (from her family) detail
Everyone was bustling about and chatting about their lives. Being the one who alienated oneself from the family, no one pays you any mind. The only one who is happy to see you is the family pet, Tina, the Yorkshire terrier.
Your parents and siblings look at you in disgust. You remember being told once: “appreciate those you are with, because you can’t choose your family, for you are born into it.
Despite this you always wondered why you were raised by such an artificial and nuclear family. They needed you to carry their name high and you dare not have a dream of your own. What has love got to do with it? That’s why you made your decision eight years ago….
You first saw them when you were 10 years old: The good fairies. They lived in a forest near your house. You knew you would be playing with fire, but your curiosity got the best of you. You snuck out after them. A giant was resting in your path. He stood and greeted you. He asked you to follow him, joining the good fairies. You continued along as the nice friendly giant proudly walked into the forest that never seemed to end. You reached a clearing where countless fairies were dancing. They told you to dance along which you happily did. The music was like strings, pulling you along and moving your limbs to its will. The guests enjoyed watching you. You kept sneaking out every night to join your friends. Then before the year was over a great joy was announced. The fairies accepted you as one of their own! Suddenly a group of giants stamped into the clearing. Thank you for coming said the wicked giants. Fearing what they might do, the fairies proclaimed to leave and find a new home. You wrote a note to your parents and left with the fairies….
You don’t regret your choice. You had to tolerate your previous life, because you can’t choose your family. But that is wrong. You can choose who you want to add to your family. The end.
Only one month to go until the joyous reunion at MContemporary gallery in Sydney!
My solo exhibition is scheduled to open on the 21st of July 2022, and I can hardly wait!
detail
Many of the original photographs that make up this body of work are found, sourced or donated by family and friends.
detail
While many of the photographs were captured here, the scenarios in these rescued and reused images recreate a time and place seemingly devoid of a greater local South African context of that time – idyllic settings and or photo studios. My adding masks from different cultures is perhaps a re-stitching of a historical narrative where these different cultures ‘meet’ each other in a new time and space/continent.
With that said in mid-2021 when I started working towards this exhibition I noticed a hashtag on Twitter that caused much mayhem at the time (#familymeeting)
Hannalie Taute And there was a joyous reunion (family reunion) 119 x 84 cm Photographic print on board, thread and rubber 2021
My own experience and expression as a family member is constantly a work in progress. Working on this body of work, got me thinking about what the word ‘Family’ really means. I also feel that a body of work focussing on the notion of Family is quite relevant due to the fact that a lot of people from all over the world could not get to see their families in real life during 2020 and 2021.
So I started re-creating my own imaginary ‘family meeting’, removing the faces and historical identities from these vintage photographs and replacing them with a variety of cultural masks and colourful embroidered flowers, a new fantasy emerges. A world clinging to the need to believe in the magic of innocent aspiration.
detail
Postscript:
Inspired by using only the titles of the works as inspiration, I started writing a short story of sorts. (The titles of the works that are going to be part of this exhibition are in bold italic):
Once upon a time, before the year was over, a great joy was announced as the nice friendly giant proudly walked into the forest, followed by the good fairies. There was to be a family meeting; a joyous reunion between the artificial family and the nuclear family, even the family pet was there. The nuclear family was playing with fire that caused them to be alienated, but at the end, what’s love got to do with it, if you can’t choose your family? Thank you for coming said the wicked giants, the guests enjoyed watching you. The end.
I have a couple of friends that are going to play a game with me, by writing their own version of this story by using all the titles (in bold above). I will be posting the various interpretations during the weeks to come here on this blog. You are welcome to play along. Feel free to send me your version story.
It is the final week to see True Fall, a group exhibition at Gallery Grande Provence.
for those of you who cannot make it to Franschoek, here is an installation view courtesy of the gallery
alternatively please pop in and say hi to “The donkeys grew ears”
Little did I know while I was working on this piece that donkeys will be in the news this months due to the “illegal donkey skin trade” and I quote:
“International organisation The Donkey Sanctuary said donkeys have become the most trafficked animal in the world, with more than two million slaughtered for their skins every year.”
I don’t want to end this post on such a sad note, so I thought I will share some of the lyrics from a song we used to sing when I was little:
O die donkie, ja die donkie Die donkie is ‘n wonderlike ding Die donkie is ‘n bielie hy’s ‘n boetie van ‘n muil Sien die een die ander dan begin hy sommer huil ja die donkie
O die donkie Die donkie is ‘n wonderlike ding Hy rol in die sand en hy vreet ‘n koerant o die donkie is ‘n wonderlike ding
song by Chris Blignaut
to translate:
Oh the donkey, yes the donkey
The donkey is a wonderful thing
The donkey is a bitch he is a brother of a mule
See each other then he just starts crying yes the donkey
Oh the donkey
The donkey is a wonderful thing
He rolls in the sand and he eats a newspaper oh the donkey is a wonderful thing
So yes, I feel like eating the newspaper report to wipe out the sad news about the donkeys.
Anyway for more details about this work feel free to contact the gallery at Grande Provence
hannalie taute 