On the occasion of Shireen Seno’s first solo exhibition in Europe at the DAAD gallery I was honoured to join the Shireen to about her practice and works featured in the exhibition in her artist talk at the opening, 5 April 2023.
SHIREEN SENO: A CHILD DIES, A CHILD PLAYS, A WOMAN IS BORN, A WOMAN DIES, A BIRD ARRIVES, A BIRD FLIES OFF
5 April – 7 May 2023
daadgalerie Berlin
https://www.berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de/en/events/shireen-seno-a-child-dies-a-child-plays-a-woman-is-born-a-woman-dies-a-bird-arrives-a-bird-flies-off/
Filmmaker and artist Shireen Seno’s work explores relationships in all their complexity and intricacies: within the family, to political relationships, to media and technology, between different species and ecosystems. Through a politics of attention and remarkable sensitivity, Seno creates a space for repressed narratives, often set against the backdrop of Philippine colonial history and diaspora life. In doing so, her practice takes her to archives as well as to Candaba, a wetland near Manila where migratory birds settle halfway along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. She encounters the world with a keen awareness of the malleability of images and a deep distrust of overly linear narratives.
The exhibition brought together works from the last four years: the 17-channel video installation A child dies, a child plays…, the film essay To Pick a Flower, new photographs and a sequel to her image essay Trunks.
I also very pleased to have been able to contribute a short text for the 2022 Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD Yearbook on Seno’s work.
