Pale Thoughts probes the difficulties of perceiving history and memory through a series of filmic vignettes. Each episode is constructed around a series of newly transcribed songs by husband-and-wife duo Daniël and Marta Dekker-Belinfante. The forgotten Dutch composer Daniël Belinfante, died in Auschwitz in 1945, just before it was liberated 80 years ago.
The films incorporate stories of resistance, such as the powerful acts of deception and destruction by the cellist/conductor Frieda Belinfante (1904–1995) alongside my own reflections on genealogy and intergenerational trauma. In both form and content, I use ‘paleness’ to explore both the indistinct past and the incomprehensible. The work also utilises theatrical technologies, such as light and fabric in the installation to further destabilise relationships between time, space and the senses.
