Give Me the Key
Inspired by Carl Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928).
Give Me the Key is a performance of psychotic demands and emotions caused by Alzheimer’s disease. During the middle stages of the disease, the artist withheld her mother’s house key for her mother’s own protection. Confused by the loss of independence, her mother would repeat this demand for hours at a time. For her mother, losing the key to her home represented the loss of her self and her sanity.
Originally intended as a live performance, the artist performs as her mother and mimics the anxious demands throughout all the stages of emotions. This glimpse into the artist’s world shows what it is like for a daughter to watch her mother slowly losing herself, while at the same time losing her own identity as she becomes the carer and the roles of mother and daughter are reversed.
Give Me the Key is part of the experimental documentary I Have Lost Myself which presents a powerful and disturbing compilation from 300+ videos, filmed daily over 30 days, depicting the raw and honest portrait of living with dementia and the blurring of artist process.
Give Me the Key is a powerful and disturbing statement on family relationships and responsibility.
11:17 mins Color/Sound
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Ginger LiuDirector
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Ginger LiuWriter
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Ginger LiuProducer
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Ginger LiuKey Cast
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Sam LiuSound
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Project Type:Experimental, Short
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Genres:Experimental, arthouse, artist film
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Runtime:11 minutes
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Completion Date:July 1, 2017
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital DSLR
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Aspect Ratio:16.9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Richter FestivalMoscow
Russian Federation
Born in Los Angeles and raised in England by Chinese and British parents, Ginger Liu’s work investigates the intersections of memory, identity, culture, and performance. Ginger has collaborated with burlesque and cabaret artists in Hollywood since 2007, culminating in the ongoing GLIUSTUDIO project Burlewood, which combines images of contemporary and classic Hollywood portraits, live performance and interviews. Ginger’s absorption in performance led to her MA Photography self-portrait series, Saudade: American – Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee; a series of composites about nostalgia and cheated Hollywood dreams. The Johanneans is a multilayered investigation into her father’s life in Shanghai during the 1930-40s; including photographs, video, audio, archives and a travel memoir of a reunion and road trip across China. Dear Noni and John is the reading of more than 100 letters, written from her aunt in Liverpool to her mother in Los Angeles during the 1960s. Her Manchester School of Art MFA Photography (2017) film and installation, I Have Lost Myself and Give Me the Key, is a powerful and disturbing compilation from nearly 300 videos, filmed over 30 days, depicting the raw and honest portrait of living with dementia and the blurring of artist process. She is currently developing her first feature which traces her mother’s memories of Liverpool and Los Angeles.
Her work has shown at Manchester’s Holden Gallery, Liverpool’s Look International Photography Festival, London’s Photomonth, Los Angeles’s Think Tank and Perfect Exposure Gallery. She is a contributing editor of New York arts Ragazine and a writer and promoter of independent film.
Ginger divides her time between London, Los Angeles, and Liverpool and is the founder of Ginger Media & Entertainment.
MFA Photography (2017) – Manchester School of Art
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice – University of Westminster
Born in Los Angeles and raised in England by Chinese and British parents, Ginger Liu’s work investigates the intersections of memory, identity, culture, and performance. Ginger has collaborated with burlesque and cabaret artists in Hollywood since 2007, culminating in the ongoing GLIUSTUDIO project Burlewood, which combines images of contemporary and classic Hollywood portraits, live performance and interviews. Ginger’s absorption in performance led to her MA Photography self-portrait series, Saudade: American – Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee; a series of composites about nostalgia and cheated Hollywood dreams. The Johanneans is a multilayered investigation into her father’s life in Shanghai during the 1930-40s; including photographs, video, audio, archives and a travel memoir of a reunion and road trip across China. Dear Noni and John is the reading of more than 100 letters, written from her aunt in Liverpool to her mother in Los Angeles during the 1960s. Her Manchester School of Art MFA Photography (2017) film and installation, I Have Lost Myself and Give Me the Key, is a powerful and disturbing compilation from nearly 300 videos, filmed over 30 days, depicting the raw and honest portrait of living with dementia and the blurring of artist process. She is currently developing her first feature which traces her mother’s memories of Liverpool and Los Angeles.
Her work has shown at Manchester’s Holden Gallery, Liverpool’s Look International Photography Festival, London’s Photomonth, Los Angeles’s Think Tank and Perfect Exposure Gallery. She is a contributing editor of New York arts Ragazine and a writer and promoter of independent film.
Ginger divides her time between London, Los Angeles, and Liverpool and is the founder of Ginger Media & Entertainment.
MFA Photography (2017) – Manchester School of Art
BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Practice – University of Westminster