Filmed at the childhood residence of Philippa van Loon, now a museum, the work is a deconstructed portrait of the woman, who at the time was the youngest heir of the Van Loon family. Philippa depicts all three characters in the video herself, showing a Dutch, a French and an English female aristocrat. 

The Van Loon museum displays period pieces from the van Loon family heritage, their wealth partly originating in colonial trading.

“Invited to make a work about the Van Loon family for the exhibition Roommates in 1998, organised by ZAPP Magazines Corinne Groot and Rob van de Ven, held at Museum Huis van Loon, I chose to focus on Philippa, the (then) last heir of the family. Born in the mid-1960's Philippa van Loon is of my generation. And although we both grew up in Amsterdam in the 1970s, our circumstances at home were radically different. We worked closely together on this ‘biography’, in which different accents of family members are being recalled and redone by Philippa, who, in the video, is always looking for her other self.”

Exhibited

The Discovery of Slowness, Ceac, Xiamen, China / Mimétisme, Extra City, Antwerp, B 2008 / The Discovery of Slowness, KW14, Den Bosch, NL, & The National Centre of Photography of the Russian Federation, Sint Petersburg, RUS / H x B x D = de Rabo Kunstcollectie, GEM Den Haag, 2005 / Villa Arson, Nice, 2002 / For Real, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2001 / Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, 1999 / Museum Huis van Loon, Amsterdam, curated by Zapp Magazine 1998