Lisa Matthys’ work is an exploration of lightness as a reaction to the heaviness of the world. It is often inspired by the absurd play and perceptions of children.
Lisa Matthys (1982, BE) is a Brussels based artist and documentary maker. She studied fine arts at Sint Lucas School of Arts, Antwerp and at UdK, Berlin & LUCA School of Arts, Brussels. She works primarily with video and photography, sometimes with elements of installation. Her approach and angle on subject matter is often based on ludic and participative methods. Her work looks at social relations under different (political) contexts and is grounded in collaboration gestures. She puts a strong emphasis on reality, with a poetic vision.
In her video work PLAY! she filmed how and what children play. The work is a poetic ode to the free play, the games children invent when they are on their own, when they feel free and create their own world. A world that often reflects their daily reality. It was filmed in three different zones: conflict, rural and urban (Palestine, Iceland and Brussels).
Currently she’s working on a documentary about traumatized Yezidi children in Iraq who were in IS captivity. One of the research methods is sandplay therapy.
PLAY!
HD Video / 19:12 min / 2018
‘PLAY!’ is a trilogy video installation. It is a poetic ode to the free play of children. The games they invent when they are on their own, when they feel free and create their own world. A world that often reflects their daily reality.
It shows children playing freely in three different areas: a rural (Iceland), urban (Brussels) and conflict zone (Palestine). As a triptych video installation this work investigates how children use the space they have and everything that is in it. From wide open nature over a densely populated neighbourhood to a ‘temporary’ refugee camp: how do they take over these places with their games?
‘PLAY!’ is not only a homage to but also a plea for more free play in our over-structured society.
Sabagiro
HD Video / 10:40 min / 2017
“Sabagiro” is a 10 minute video about traveling. In Chiatura, an industrial city in Georgia, inhabitants are still using the old cable car system which was built in the fifties to transport workers around the valley and up to the mines. Today only 20% of the system is still in use.
In a rusty cabin crossing the valley, people meet, chat or sit still while staff members manage the system with old buttons and handlebars. The video shows the interaction between these people during their daily life in a very unusual scenery.