Talking to Myself, the films of Anne Charlotte Robertson presents a selection of films by the Massachusetts born independent filmmaker Anne Charlotte Robertson. Inspired by avant-garde film directors such as Marie Menken and Jonas Mekas, Robertson’s work features the tradition of diary film, while maintaining the distinct and singular perspective of her lived experience. Drawing on her continually evolving use of experimental techniques, Robertson established a formal complexity through which to express the subjectivity of her self-image. Within a first-person narrative, Robertson directs the camera toward herself, weaving layers of spoken word with candid Super 8 footage of her daily life. With a sense of playfulness and melancholy, Robertson’s films encapsulate her struggles with loneliness and mental illness and the challenges she faced as a single female. Recorded over seventeen years (1981 onward), Robertson’s Five Year Diary documents scenes from her daily life, chronicled over a total of thirty-six hours of film which are compiled as a series of Super 8 reels. This exhibition presents a reel from Robertson’s Five Year Diary: Niagara Falls, alongside two of her short films, Apologies and Talking to Myself.
Curated by Nina Gilbert and Tara O’Conal.
Anne Charlotte Robertson’s films courtesy Harvard Film Archive.
See the exhibition text here.