State of the Arts toneelacademie Maastricht 2023
State of the Arts toneelacademie Maastricht 2023
State of the Arts toneelacademie Maastricht 2024
Registratie foto eindcommunicatie during state of the art Toneelacademie Maastricht 2025
Mapping research
Maps of documenting interviews
‘I washed my father after he died’
The closest I was to my father was when he was dying. I touched his face, gently caressed his face and hair. I had never done that before. There was nothing in between. Hands in the earth, hands in the water, hands on a body, touching life, earth nature, flesh, a living human body, warm and flexible, kneadable, with texture and plasticity, vulnerable. A dead body that is still lukewarm, the skin that has a lily-livered surface with flags of dark purple, blue and red pigments. Cuts and wounds to the head, Broozes of a fall. A body that is declared dead, taking a hand that is still warm, blood that slowly runs top down, gravity plays its part. An open mouth, the scent of decay, bad breath, fills the room. I arrive too late, he is gone. My mother sits in the entrance and waits for me. Together we enter the room. We sit and watch the body. The funeral director will be here soon. She arrives, her name is Paula. She is a gentle person and takes care of my mother. I am a spectator. I need some help with washing the body Paula says. My mother declines. I say yes off course. She puts the cooling table under him and sets up her working table. We placed the limbs then on the body or beside it, to properly wash the body. We chose a costume for him to wear. A purple suit that contrasts nicely with his light ocher skin. It was all that was in the closet that could be considered neat. Bones of the chest that look if they pile out of the chest, but it is the stomac area, that has no flesh no volume anymore. Bones that stick out of the body. The cheek bones that seem enormous, also because the flesh of the once smiley cheeks is gone. The individual is gone, it is material. The personality is nowhere to be found. The mouth is shut by using a clamp. I remember the term rigor mortis from crime scenes series. Socks, with holes, let’s find better ones. Why do we, we do because he looks better with socks without holes. I put on his socks. A blue latex hand takes a white wash cloth form an aluminium bowl with soapy water. The body is washed. With my left hand under the hip joint, under his bottom, my righthand under his shoulder I brace myself against the bed and pull his body on the side. To pull a dead body. To dress a dead body. I turn the body to the other side and try to pull down the purple blouse, in the pants and button up his shirt. It is not easy with gloves on.
The closest I was to my father was when he was dying. I touched his face, gently caressed his face and hair. I had never done that before. There was nothing in between.
MAPPING
Map on queering
