The idea for this project emerged a few years ago, when filmmaker Vanesa Abajo Pérez made a short film about her aunt. When she heard that her aunt was terminally ill, she grabbed her camera and went to visit her in Spain. When she arrived there, her aunt read her a poem about her house: although the people who once lived in the house are no longer here anymore, the house continues to exist through the elements of the surrounding nature. Vanesa recorded her aunt’s voice and filmed the house. After her death, she realised that her aunt had immortalised herself through the poem and the film. It was as if her aunt had become part of the house.

She also realised how comforting this had been for both of them: for her aunt, who had looked death in the eye at the time, but also for herself. After showing the film at festivals, she also realised that a wider audience, who were not necessarily ill, was also intrigued by the film. Vanesa then decided to develop a similar project on a larger scale..

‘I Am Not My Body' is a multimedia project which portrays life-threateningly ill people and immortalises them in the surrounding reality. Are we able to let go of the classic story about death, to create an innovative, more meaningful narrative? That is the core question of this film poem, which blurs the dividing line between life and death and approaches the threat of the approaching death as a surreal experience.

The project consists of several parts which tell together a larger story but also stand on their own: a poetic documentary, an exhibition and a digital collection of poems. The first two parts were presented and exhibited in 2021 in the Dutch Funeral Museum Tot Zover in Amsterdam. Currently the documentary and an adapted installation are being exposed at the Museum für Sepulkralkultur in Kassel, from July the 9nth until September the 4th 2022.

Partners and support
To realise this project, we work together with the Ingeborg Douwes Center, Xenia and Hospice Bardo. The project is made possible by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund, the Dutch Fund for Literature, Stimulation Fund Mourning, wzzzt studio and various private sponsors. Would you also like to support this project or do you want to read more information? Contact us.