Yto Barrada
Tree Identification for Beginners
2017
Medium
16mm film, color, sound, 36min
Museum
Mumok
Acquisition
Acquisition
Year Of Acquisition
2021
Inventory Number
ÖL-Stg 542
Tree Identification for Beginners is a film installation in which Yto Barrada (*1971) refers to her Moroccan mother’s first journey to the US in the mid-1960s. The US-visit her mother undertook as one of fifty students, was enabled by the American government as part of the African Youth Leadership Program. Aim of the tour was to transfer a positive image of American society to African students. The film combines voice-overs of Barrada’s mother, tour participants as well as historic figures, with stop-motion animations of Montessori educational toys.
This work was shown at mumok’s exhibition “Avant-Garde and Liberation. Contemporary Art and Decolonial Modernism” from June 7 to September 22, 2024.