Mirella Muroni about the Vrijplaats Residency
Mirella Muroni took part in the Vrijplaats Residency 2021 – Positionality. Sabrina Sugiarto interviewed her about her experiences during the Vrijplaats and her new project ‘Attestation de Vita’, for which she has entered into a collaboration with Vrijplaats Residency participant Daniel Jacoby.
Can you tell us something about your experience during the Vrijplaats Residency?
The Vrijplaats Residency struck a special chord with me. The workshops, lectures and coaching sessions offered were given by people of color. I first experienced education from a black female perspective. That was new to me. Because the lessons that I have followed in addition to my practice in the film sector are all workshops from a white perspective. As a result, the Vrijplaats Residency was very pleasant and satisfying and very comforting. I felt I was understood.
What made the most impact on you as a maker?
What made a big impact was Winnie Roseval’s Positionality program. That touched me so much that a door opened in me. This brought me to the invisibility that I felt as a maker. Through the collaboration with other Vrijplaats Residency participants, who make more abstract work, I came into contact with my abstract voice again. A voice that I let go of for a while, because the film industry is less open to it. But it is something I really enjoy doing. And that was the beginning where I thought; I also have an abstract voice and I need to start using it more.
What did you do with that rediscovered voice during the Vrijplaats Residency?
I have started a project called ‘Attestation de Vita’. It is a series of 10 short films in which I work with archive material with women of color as the subject. Because there is little or no archive material in which these women appear, I want to add moving images to the existing archive with these films. For this project I entered into a collaboration with a participant of the Vrijplaats; Daniel Jacoby. Daniel works as an editor on this project. When I saw his work I immediately felt a match of recognition. He has an abstract way of telling and the structure of his stories contains mystery and humor. That’s who I am; mystery and humor.
Where can we see your work in the future?
There is a possibility that the project will be placed with Eye on Art. This is a monthly program at Eye where visual art and film come together.
On Saturday 29 October (between 2 pm and 9 pm), Mirella Muroni is organizing a crowdfund event for the financing of ‘Attestation de Vita’. During the event, fragments from the Attestation de Vita series about the representation of black women in the Dutch moving image archive can be seen. The event takes place in De Kas (new Herengracht 18). Do you want to know more? Send an email to mirellakoops@yahoo.com.