Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler
"Flora" is a double-sided film, depicting the life of artist Flora Mayo on one side and her son, David, on the other.
There are two sides to "Flora," a film exhibit debuting Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
One side is black and white, depicting reenactments of the life of late artist Flora Mayo, the exhibit's subject; while the other side is in color, featuring clips and soundbites of Mayo's son, David.
It's a movie "conceived as a conversation" between mother and son, sharing the same soundtrack and meant to be experienced from both angles, according to the Modern.
Samantha Calimbahin
Storyboard sketches give visitors a behind-the-scenes peek into Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler's filmmaking process.
"Flora," along with its corresponding sculpture, "Bust," are both the work of married couple and artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler. Hubbard and Birchler, who are based in Austin and teach at the University of Texas, became intrigued by the life of Flora Mayo after reading about her in James Lord's biography on renowned Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Mayo and Giacometti had a love affair in Paris in the 1920s, and while Giacometti went on to become one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, Mayo's works were destroyed — her career going largely unnoticed, and her memory becoming not much more than "a tiny footnote in [Giacometti's] biography," senior curator Andrea Karnes says.
Samantha Calimbahin
"Bust" is Hubbard and Birchler's recreation of Flora Mayo's destroyed portrait of Alberto Giacometti.
That would change when Hubbard and Birchler embarked on a research project delving into Mayo's life. When they found her son living in California, he became the main voice in the documentary which the couple filmed and later premiered at the Swiss Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.
The sculpture, "Bust," is Hubbard and Birchler's recreation of Mayo's destroyed portrait of Giacometti. Both the sculpture and the film have been part of the Modern's permanent collection since 2019 and are finally making their debut after facing delay from COVID-19.
"[Hubbard and Birchler] end up creating a hybrid story that includes some truths and some reconstructions, history, memory, and reenactment — all of those things come together to tell the story of this marginalized American female artist," Karnes says.
"Flora" and "Bust" will be on display through Jan. 2, 2022. Ticket information is available at themodern.org.
