Dislocated - My life away from home - A personal rite of passage

Su Tomesen - making my own history

I met Su at an opening in the project space of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. When my friend, conceptual artist Joanneke Meester saw her, she immediately said: -’Oh, you two have to meet, you have so much in common!.’

Photo with Su and Joanneke at SMBA (shot by Eric V. Robertson)

So I had a tea with Su and I was very inspired by her. Although coming from very different angles, we both have this love for exploring the world and connecting with people.

It’s not so much in her upbringing; Su grew up in Limburg, in the South of the Netherlands. At the age of 3 she moved to a house that her parents still live in. But somehow, she always felt she wanted to broaden her view of the world. So she started out studying history, and her curiosity grew. She worked for film festivals and television for some time, and then decided to get a master’s degree in fine arts at the Sandberg Institute. She wrote her thesis on ‘the travelling artist’ (read a review by Tineke Reijnders). And became one herself.

Su: -’After the thesis, it made sense to apply for an artist’s residency. Through Fonds BKVB I got one in Amman, where I spent lived and worked for three months. (Read more about Su’s time in Amman in BK Info 2009/5). The alertness caused by travelling is addictive I guess. And I am passionate about my work. When I travel it’s for that only. People laugh at me when I say I need a holiday, but it’s truly ages ago that I had one. Curiosity is my motor - I’m eager to see places with my own eyes and then include them in my work somehow. In that sense I am a collector.’

Photo: Su filming in Port-au-Prince (shot by Henrique Wajnberg)

I recognize the energy Su talks about. Once you’re in another place, it’s as if stories just come to you. You’re taken into ‘the moment’ and guided by circumstances. I also feel the urge to see places with own eyes, I like to call it ‘demystifying’.

Su says -’yes, that’s what it is, you demystify. You’re triggered by new surroundings. And then you make your own personal history there. I see a big challenge in converting that experience in art works, to translate my view for an audience. As artists we return home with images that are much more contemplated on. There for, they are more interesting than what the average traveller comes up with.’

What does Su like to take from the places she visits? -’I make my work all over. And I gather many contacts. Meeting all these local artists, I now have a great network. I’ve worked with teams in from Belgrade to Rio de Janeiro and Port-au-Prince! What I never do, is just take the work and leave. I always make sure to organize an event at the end of my stay, to show our joint achievements. That’s very important. I don’t go places to take something, I go to share and collaborate.

Photo by Su: screening the City One Minutes work in Port-au-Prince, in Su’s hotel room

In a more literal sense, Su tells me she collect globes: -’I love globes - and try to buy them in every corner of the world, depicted in different languages and perceptions. I have about 25 of them now. And my favorite book is the World Atlas of course’

One of the biggest challenges for Su at the moment is the project City One Minutes. About 40 video artists are travelling around the world to make video’s portraying cities - together with local film makers. These are collected to be shown at the World Expo in Shanghai next year.
What’s the importance of the internet for Su? -’well, first of all it’s amazing how great Facebook is - I love to keep up with eveyday stuff of people around me. People know where I am and they send me tips and people I often meet up with people I know who just happen to be around the same place. Also, I use Dopplr for this travel advise. For more detailed information on where I am and what I am doing, I keep my website with links. People just want to know where and how you are. And if you’re in some far away place, people want to know what it’s like ‘for me’.

How Dutch does Su feel she is? - ‘It’s so Dutch not to have a real sense of what being Dutch is! I guess I am Dutch like that. I could never feel this sense of pride when speaking of ‘my country’. In that sense the whole nationalist movement that’s come up the last years is so over the top and absurd to me. I made a huge pick-nick rug depicting the Dutch flag of over 200 square meters to express that. But ok, I guess I do feel Amsterdam is my home now.’

Su has an ongoing project here with two three colleagues called the Petersburg Project Space. Here I feel is my base - and I fit in. I’m an artist, I am single at the moment with no kids. There’s many more people like me around, which is great. I’m not as much the exception I tend to be in other places.’

What does Su feel is the biggest difference between her work and mine? -’I do many different projects and assignments. I am still collecting, and may want to make an over all project about my experiences one day, but am not there yet. Your project has started up like that. Travelling is the form, it’s a very explicit theme, and I can imagine you want to make it more in to a web documentary. It’s all encompassing what you’re doing. A big difference for example is I have a house, you don’t. Your project is more explicitly about you, too. I have never taken my own solitude as a subject for example. It can be awfully lonely sometimes to travel so much. I might get there, one day. This conversation makes me aware I could do some things like that too, express more in that sense.’

Su is off to Brazil soon, and I will start travelling again in October I hope. We decided to stay in touch, and who knows where we will meet next time!