From Overseas
Globalized pictures of my homeland
Mini DV, 18:00 minutes, Tasmania/Thuringia, 2003
from overseas was created during the residency in Tasmania. The term is used for everything that does not come from the island. I associate this term with memories of distant landscapes that keep appearing and disappearing, much like Fata Morgana or mirage. The brief interaction between the landscape in my memory and the one in reality produces a utopia for me: Tasthuringmania. The landscape that surrounded my school vacations is located in Thuringia, a state that lies in the middle of Germany. The faded pictures of my youth reflect a landscape intertwined with emotions, fantasies, and experiences. The familiar scenery from home of forests, rolling pastures, and cultivated fields stirred up in me profound feelings of sorrow, and with it an intense yearning to leave my native land: I simply could not trust the seemingly idyllic existence here.
What’s the connection between Thuringia and Tasmania, except that both happen to begin with the letter T?