Abigail Child

My blogs

About me

Occupation Artist/Filmmaker/Writer
Location Rome
Introduction Abigail Child’s images contain elements of humor, liveliness and complex sound/image montage. In the words of LA Weekly, she makes “brilliant exciting work….” Her films explore gesture as language, using radical strategies to rewrite narrative, including MAYHEM (1987), COVERT ACTION (1984), DARK DARK (2001), THE FUTURE IS BEHIND YOU (2004) and MIRROR WORLD (2006). Other productions borrow documentary to poetically envision and interrogate public space including B/SIDE, BELOW THE NEW and in-progress RIDE THE TIGER: Scenes From Capitalist China. Recent work has expanded into installation utilizing surround sound and multiple projectors, as well as 2D photographic work. Child is a recipient of many awards, including Guggenheim, Fulbright and Radcliffe Fellowships and most recently the Rome Prize 2009-2010 which she is currently enjoying. She has had retrospectives at Harvard Cinematheque, Anthology Film Archives (in conjunction with New Museum NY), Yerba Buena Center SF; EXIS, Seoul, South Korea and in Switzerland at Reservoir.
Interests Film, Video, Poetry, Music, Art
Favorite Movies Her art is in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York and Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others; Harvard University Film Center has created an “Abigail Child Collection” which will preserve and exhibit her films. Her film work is the subject of a chapter in P. Adams Sitney’s EYES UPSIDE DOWN (Oxford 2008); as well in Experimental Women Filmmakers, ed. Robin Blaetz, written by Maureen Turim; in Jeffrey Scholler’s SHADOWS, SPECTERS, SHARDS, 2005 U. of Minnesota and in A CRITICAL CINEMA. Vol 4. Scott MacDonald, (2003) U of California Press.
Favorite Books Child is also a writer whose poetry collections include A MOTIVE FOR MAYHEM and SCATTER MATRIX as well as the recent collection of critical writings, THIS IS CALLED MOVING: A Critical Poetics of Film (U. of Alabama Press 2005). Child is senior faculty at the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and calls NYC home.