Angela Schanelec
Portrait einer Arbeiterin
Digital Betacam, 5 min
Prod.: Angela Schanelec, Berlin / 2002

with Bettina Schneider
director of photography Reinhold Vorschneider
Sound Ludger Blanke

Imagine seeing a young woman’s face. Her kerchief and frock indicate that she is a worker. She talks to someone sitting across from her, a man who is only once heard asking a question at the end. She talks about memories of the sea. It is a very intimate, easygoing text. Recollecting does not seem to be effort. At the end, she smiles for a short moment. In black and white, because I felt that a color picture could not possibly go together with the color of the face veil. Yesterday, in the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung, there was a portrait of a woman, “Silvia I” by Franz Gertsch. Her expression was quiet, composed, without fear and without revealing anything. This easiness of expression bespeaks something overcome and was made possible only by overcoming it. A young woman showing and simultaneosly hiding herself, speaking, but not revealing her secret.


[Central Asian Bridal Veil Cloths]