What Surrounds the Words
2021 TWO CHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION, SOUND, 30:00 MIN. / 30:11 MIN.
In the documentary video work ‘What Surrounds the Words’ (2021), Vesna Faassen and Lukas Verdijk invite five Antwerp-based, grassroots activists of various backgrounds – Yassine Boubout, Sarah Bekambo, Mirjam Henkens, Sarah El Massaoudi en Ida Dequeecker – to enter discussion. The idea for the project arose from the book ‘Revolutionary Keywords for a New Left’ (2017) by Ian Parker. In it, terms such as cis, eco-socialism, spirituality and queer are contextualised. The discussion in the video is led around their own keywords, with the participants dissecting the activist causes they each contend with in their own way.
Yassine Boubout (BE, 1997) is an expert in and activist against police violence. Sarah Bekambo (BE, 2001) is slam poet and student at the VUB. Mirjam Henkens (BE, 1991) is a community organiser in the social sector and activist for the antiracist and feminist cause. Sarah El Massaoudi (BE, 1992) is a social worker, activist, chair of Kif Kif vzw and an active member of BOEH!, among other organizations. Ida Dequeecker (BE, 1943) is a feminist, activist and co-founder of the Dolle Mina movement in Belgium in 1970.
Sound & music: Sjoerd Leijten
Design: D-E-A-L
Translation: Inge Coolsaet
