Film screening and conversation between Martine Gutierrez and her mother

Wunderkind

After the screening she will engage in conversation with her mother, who has played an important role in nurturing Martine’s creativity from an early age and whose influence can be felt in various ways throughout Wunderkind, Gutierrez’s current large-scale solo exhibition at Huis Marseille.

Wundermom

During this special event, mother and daughter will revisit the making of The Search for True Beauty, a film Martine made at the age of ten, and reflect on the creative freedom that shaped her childhood. Creativity and self-expression were central to Martine Gutierrez’s childhood, as was the special relationship she has always had with her mother; she was encouraged to play, experiment and explore identity freely, without preconceived ideas or restrictions. Martine’s mother also carefully preserved her childhood and family archive, including dresses, puppets, sketchbooks, toys and other objects that inspired Martine to inhabit different characters and explore multiple sides of herself.

Martine Gutierrez

Martine’s layered identity and the many ‘stand-ins’ in her self-portraits build on her childhood creations, in which reality and myth continually flowed into one another. The Search for True Beauty was Martine Gutierrez’s directorial debut. She wrote the text and music, and directed, narrated and performed in the film. For the soundtrack she composed original flute music – one of several instruments she studied in childhood.

Film

Using a single tripod and simple in-camera editing tools, Martine transformed her backyard into an expansive set. In the lead, as the film’s ingénue, she cast her nanny as Julia, ‘a beautiful but not giving girl sent on a journey by a nymph named Gabrielle’. On screen, Martine plays Gabrielle, in addition to every supporting character, including Gazelda, a hostile landowner, and Luffa, a wise wizard.