Homeland, Part V
2003 - 2007
video installation
2 videofilms on DVD
2 tv screens
6:17, sound
Videos
2011 © rinihurkmans
Flag Twirler
Endeavour
In the video installation, Homeland, Part V, two older men express, each in his own way, a form of compassion. Each man has a very different character: one is active, a worker, and the other seems to have a more reflecting, philosophical personality. Because the two monitors used face each other, a dialogue between the men is created.
On one monitor, a man uses traditional means. He is a flag twirler and performs a flag pattern with the Flag of Compassion. He comes from the village where Hurkmans grew up and he expresses a pattern, 'a prayer of the flag'. This is a traditional and historical flag performance; the twirlers wave a pattern with the flag to express symbolically the fight against evil and injustice, how good conquers evil.
In the accompanying video, Endeavour, an older man sits motionless on a chair under an oak tree. One sees how the sunlight changes, how the wind moves the leaves of the tree and how insects and butterflies pass by. In his arms he holds a piece of yellow textile, similar to that from which The Flag of Compassion is made.