Abigail Child facts for kids

Abigail Child is an American filmmaker, poet, and writer. She has been creating experimental films, videos, and books since the 1970s. She has made over thirty films and videos, plus art installations. She has also written six books. Her early films explored how sound and images work together. She often changed traditional storytelling methods.

Learning and Teaching

Abigail Child studied at Radcliffe College in Harvard University. She graduated in 1968 with a degree in history and literature. She later received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship for her film work.

She has taught at several universities. These include New York University and Massachusetts College of Art. Since 2000, she has led the Film and Animation department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She also received a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In 2009, she won the Rome Prize, which is a big honor for artists and scholars.

Her Work in Film, Writing, and Poetry

Abigail Child started making films in the 1970s. She first made seven independent documentaries using 16mm film. In the mid-1970s, she began creating experimental films. These films often used a technique called montage, which means putting many short clips together. In the 1980s, her work looked at gender roles and new ways to tell stories.

One of her most important experimental works from this time is Is This What You Were Born For?. This project has seven parts and took nine years to finish. It includes popular films like Mayhem and Covert Action. In the 1990s, Child made films that explored public spaces. For example, B/side (1996) was about people experiencing homelessness in New York City. Below the New: A Russian Chronicle (1999) was filmed in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In the 2000s, Child's films and videos explored history, memory, and different cultures. She looked at how places and identities are connected to politics. Her digital works, like Cake + Steak (2004) and The Future Is Behind You (2005), showed everyday life. She often used old film clips to explore the past. Mirror World (2006) was an art installation with multiple screens. It used parts of her "foreign film" series. Other important works include Surface Noise (2000) and Dark Dark (2001). Her video documentary On The Downlow (2007) explored different kinds of relationships.

In 2012, Child finished a feature film called Shape of Error. This film was like an imaginary "home movie." It was based on the diaries of Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein. The film explored Mary Shelley's life during her marriage.

Besides filmmaking, Abigail Child has written five books of poetry. These were published between 1983 and 2012. She also wrote a book of essays about film called This Is Called Moving: A Critical Poetics of Film (2005). In 2011, a collection of writings about her film series Is This What You Were Born For? was published. It also included a DVD of the films.

Filmography

• Acts and Intermissions (2017)
• Salome (2014)
• ELSA merdelamerdelamer (2012)
• Unbound (2012)
• A Shape Of Error (2011) feature film on Mary and Percy Shelley
• The Suburban Trilogy (2011) film and digital
• Riding the Tiger: Letters from Capitalist China (2010-2014)
• Hacking Empire (2010) single screen version of L'Impero Invertito
• If I Can Sing A Song About Ligatures (2009) w/ Nada Gordon, Foreign Film Series
• Surf And Turf (2008-2011) 16mm/digital, The Suburban Trilogy, part 3
• On The Downlow (2007) Digital feature documentary, dir. by Child; ed: Yael Bitton; Camera: Arthur Jafa
• Mirror World (2006) 16mm to digital, w/ Gary Sullivan Foreign Film Series
• To And No Fro (2005) 16mm to digital, w/ Monica de la Torre. Foreign Film Series
• Blonde Fur (2004) Loop from Cake and Steak
• The Party (2004)
• The Future Is Behind You (2004) film/digital, The Suburban Trilogy, Part 2
• Cake and Steak (2003–04) film/digital, The Suburban Trilogy, Part 1
• The Milky Way (2003) Installation version of Dark Dark
• Subtalk (2002) digital, w/ Benton C Bainbridge and Eric Rosenzveig
• Dark Dark (2001) film, How the World Works, Part 2
• Surface Noise (2000) film, How the World Works, Part 1
• Below the New (1999)
• Her Thirteenth Year (screenplay) (1998)
• B/Side (1996)
• Dinkinsville (1994)
• Through The Looking Lass w/ L. Champagne & Songs (1993) interactive video performance
• Songs (1993) interactive video performance w/Benton C Bainbridge, Vicky Funari and Ikue Mori
• 8 Million (1992) video album w/ Ikue Mori)
• Swamp (1990–91) w/ S. Schulman
• Mercy (1989) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 7
• Both (1988) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 3
• Mayhem (1987) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 6
• Perils (1985–86) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 5
• Covert Action (1984) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 4
• Mutiny (1982–83) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 2
• Prefaces (1981) Is This What You Were Born For? Part 1
• Ornamentals (1979)
• Pacific Far East Line (1979)
• Peripeteia II (1978)
• Daylight Test Section (1978)
• Peripeteia I (1977)
• Some Exterior Presence (1977)
• Tar Garden (1975)
• Mother Movie (1973)
• Game (1972) w/Jon Child
• Except The People (1970) w/Jon Child