From 4 June to 29 October 2023, ANOHNI, the associate artist of the Holland Festival, a multimedia exhibition at Huis Willet-Holthuysen: She Who Saw Beautiful Things. With this art display, ANOHNI honours its former collaborative partner Dr Julia Yasuda. Also on display are photographs taken by animal now deceased wife Erika Yasuda. These are now on display for the first time.
Back to Amsterdam
With this exhibition, ANOHNI returns to Amsterdam, the city that coloured her world in the year she lived here as a child in the late 1970s. She then lived in Gerrit van der Veenstraat, where, she later discovered, the headquarters of the German occupier's intelligence service was located during World War II. This fact inspired her to want to pay tribute to people who have been marginalised and persecuted over the centuries - not only because of their origin or religion, but also because of their gender or sexual preference.
Julia and Erika Yasuda
Furthermore, ANOHNI presents the legacy of Julia and Erika Yasuda in this exhibition. Julia Yasuda, an intersex mathematician from Tokyo, met her wife Erika (1945/6-1986) in the late 1970s. A photographer, writer and actress, Erika captured their love in a series of extraordinary photographs of Julia and their mutual friend Mako Midori, as well as portraits of their two cats. This exhibition features their legacy, complemented by ANOHNI's own sculpture, video, photography and hand-painted silk. Together, the works reflect a carefully composed vision of femininity and androgyny.
About ANOHNI
ANOHNI is artist in residence during this edition of the Holland Festival, which takes place from 3 to 26 June. Born in England, she lives and works in America as a musician, visual artist and theatre director. In 1995, she founded the performance group The Johnsons, with which she performed with symphony orchestras in opera houses around the world, including the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Real in Madrid and Carnegie Hall in New York. Work by ANOHNI has previously been shown at the Nikolaj Kunsthal, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, The Hammer Museum, The Kitchen and Sikemma Jenkins Gallery in New York. She co-facilitated the art project FUTURE FEMINISM, which was presented at The Hole in New York in 2014 and was part of ANOHNI's artistic residency in Aarhus, European Capital of Culture in 2017.
Presentation at Huis Willet-Holthuysen
The exhibition She Who Saw Beautiful Things can be seen in the imposing House Willet-Holthuysen, part of the Amsterdam Museum, on the Herengracht in Amsterdam. The double mansion has several period rooms and a symmetrical French-style garden, and houses numerous impressive historical objects. This presentation is part of a series in which Huis Willet-Holthuysen and its collection enter into a relationship with other collections by contemporary makers.Left:
Right:
Curator tours of exhibition
Visitors can find out more in the curator tours that Dorine Maat, junior curator at the Amsterdam Museum, will give on 11 June, 25 June, 15 July and 10 September through the exhibition. The tours are free with a valid admission ticket. For more information, visit the website of the Amsterdam Museum.
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