What inspired you to create this film?
After I graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague I went on a solo trip to Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. When I arrived in Mexico City I felt an unexpected feeling of “home”. Until this day I don’t have a rational explanation for it. It was something about the people, the colors, the culture as if I had been there before.
Years later I decided to go back. I’d always wanted to do an artist residency, so in 2018 I traveled back to Mexico and stayed in Oaxaca City. The initial plan was to write a short film, but in those 3 weeks, I didn’t write anything. However I did a lot of workshops; from working with clay, dance, cooking, and natural dyeing while meeting incredible women. When I got back to the Netherlands I felt like something inside of me had changed.
A month later I was listening to a song on the train that I had heard in Mexico during a dance practice. Suddenly it hit me; I needed to create a film about these women, as if the visuals for this story were downloaded into my brain. Little did I know this was the beginning of an immense journey.
What was the process of selecting the three protagonists, Evelyn, Alicia, and Frida? Why did you choose to focus on young Mexican women?
The first two thoughts that entered my mind soon after I had this epiphany were “Why?” and “What’s the story? You don’t have any script.”
My photography work already revolved around women and the female body. And apparently, this made people label me as a feminist. I had already had my questions around terms such as female empowerment and I started to wonder “But what does that mean? What does it mean to be a strong woman?” Intuitively I felt that some of the women I met in Oaxaca were holding the answers to that question. Soon after I started to have conversations with them via phone about their connection to their roots, ancestors, rituals, nature, their cycle, creativity, and spirituality.
I met Evelyn and Alicia during my residency in 2018. I immediately fell in love with them: their spirits, beauty, art, and how they viewed the world. I hadn’t seen a dancer so pure and free before; Evelyn dances from her soul, her spirit. She taught me a lot about water and the stories we carry in our bodies. Alicia is another magical being, full of wisdom and power. I vividly remember seeing her during Dia de Los Muertos and was completely hypnotized by her performance. Alicia works with clay (the earth). She often does rituals with her figurative artworks while honoring her ancestors, her cycle, and the elements. I learned about motherhood, our roots, and the importance of rituals from her. Last but not least, I met Frida through a friend of mine. The youngest of all three. Very smart, vibrant, and beautiful. She has a lot of humor and is interested in architecture but works as a performance artist with subjects around the body and women. Since she couldn’t speak English and my Spanish was still very limited, we communicated mostly through body language.