Abigail Child is a filmmaker, poet, and writer who has been active in experimental writing and media since the 1970s. She has completed more than thirty film and video works and installations, and six books. Child's early film work addressed the interplay between sound and image through reshaping narrative tropes, prefiguring many concerns of contemporary film and media.

Academics

In 1968, Abigail Child graduated from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a degree in history and literature. She has received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in Film. She has taught at several universities, including

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

, and

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

. She has been the chair of Film and Animation department at the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusett ...

since 2000 and was appointed to a fellowship at the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

. In 2009, she was awarded the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...

Career in film, writing, and poetry

Child began making films in the 1970s, producing seven independent documentaries shot on 16mm. From the middle of the 70s she turned to experimental montage and in the 80s her work explores gender and strategies for remaking narrative. ''Is This What You Were Born For?'' is a major, seven-part experimental work from this period, completed over nine years, which included the cult classics ''Mayhem'' and ''Covert Action''. In the 90s, Child poetically envisioned and interrogated public spaces in such films as ''B/side'' (1996), about urban homelessness on the Lower East Side of New York city, and ''Below the New: A Russian Chronicle'' (1999), filmed in St. Petersburg. In the 21st century, Child's film and video has explored history, memory, and cultural experiences—the politics of place and identity. Digital works like ''Cake + Steak'' (2004) and ''The Future Is Behind You'' (2005)These artworks can be found in investigate the awkward drama of the everyday, often utilizing found material to examine the past. ''Mirror World'' (2006) is a multi-screen installation that incorporates parts of Child's “foreign film” series to explore narrative excess. Key works include ''Surface Noise'' (2000), ''Dark Dark'' (2001), ''Where The Girls Are'' (2002), ''Cake and Steak'' (2004), ''The Future Is Behind You'' (2004), ''To and No Fro'' (2005), and ''Mirror World'' (2006). Her feature video documentary ''On The Downlow'' (2007)), is an exploration of bisexuality and an intimate look at a little-viewed underground scene. In 2012, Child completed a feature film, ''Shape of Error,'' an imaginary “home movie” based on the diaries of Mary Shelley during her marriage with Percy Shelley. Child is also the author of five books of poetry (published between 1983 and 2012) and a book of critical writings: ''This Is Called Moving: A Critical Poetics of Film'' (2005). A collection of writings by various authors on ''Is This What You Were Born For?'', including a DVD of the film series, was published in 2011.

Filmography

* Acts and Intermissions (2017) * Salome (2014) * ELSA (2012) * Unbound (2012) * A Shape Of Error (2011) feature film on Mary and Percy Shelley * The Suburban Trilogy (2011) film and digital * Riding the Tiger: Letters from Capitalist China (2010-2014) * Hacking Empire (2010) single screen version of ''L'Impero Invertito'' * If I Can Sing A Song About Ligatures (2009) w/ Nada Gordon, ''Foreign Film Series'' * Surf And Turf (2008-2011) 16mm/digital, ''The Suburban Trilogy, part 3'' * On The Downlow (2007) Digital feature documentary, dir. by Child; ed: Yael Bitton; Camera: Arthur Jafa * Mirror World (2006) 16mm to digital, w/ Gary Sullivan ''Foreign Film Series'' * To And No Fro (2005) 16mm to digital, w/ Monica de la Torre. ''Foreign Film Series'' * Blonde Fur (2004) Loop from ''Cake and Steak'' * The Party (2004) * The Future Is Behind You (2004) film/digital, ''The Suburban Trilogy, Part 2'' * Cake and Steak (2003–04) film/digital, ''The Suburban Trilogy, Part 1'' * The Milky Way (2003) Installation version of ''Dark Dark'' * Subtalk (2002) digital, w/

Benton C Bainbridge Benton C Bainbridge (born January 22, 1966) is an American media artist known for creating single channel video, interactive artworks, immersive installations and live visual performances with custom digital, analog and optical systems of his ow ...

and Eric Rosenzveig * Dark Dark (2001) film, ''How the World Works, Part 2'' * Surface Noise (2000) film, ''How the World Works, Part 1'' * Below the New (1999) * Her Thirteenth Year (screenplay) (1998) * B/Side (1996) * Dinkinsville (1994) * Through The Looking Lass ''w/ L. Champagne'' & Songs (1993) interactive video performance * Songs (1993) interactive video performance w/

, Vicky Funari and

Ikue Mori (born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022. Biography Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She sa ...

* 8 Million (1992) video album w/ Ikue Mori) * Swamp (1990–91) w/ S. Schulman * Mercy (1989) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 7'' * Both (1988) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 3'' * Mayhem (1987) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 6'' * Perils (1985–86) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 5'' * Covert Action (1984) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 4'' * Mutiny (1982–83) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 2'' * Prefaces (1981) ''Is This What You Were Born For? Part 1'' * Ornamentals (1979) *

Pacific Far East Line Pacific Far East Line, also called PFEL in short, was a passenger and cargo shipping line founded in 1943 by Thomas E. Cuffe, in San Francisco, California. At the beginning he started by chartering foreign ships to run the lines in tramp trade. ...

(1979) * Peripeteia II (1978) * Daylight Test Section (1978) * Peripeteia I (1977) * Some Exterior Presence (1977) * Tar Garden (1975) * Mother Movie (1973) * Game (1972) w/Jon Child * Except The People (1970) w/Jon Child

Publications

* ''Is this what you were born for?'' (MetisPresses, 2011) * ''This is Called Moving: A Critical Poetics of Film'' (

University of Alabama Press The University of Alabama Press is a university press founded in 1945 and is the scholarly publishing arm of the University of Alabama. An editorial board composed of representatives from all doctoral degree granting public universities within Al ...

, 2005) * ''Counter Clock'' (Tout Court Editions, Mermaid Tenement Press, 2009) * ''Artificial Memory'' ( Belladonna Press, 2001) * ''Flesh'' poems for Sarah Shulman by Abigail Child (Published by ZET Amsterdam - New York 1990) * ''Scatter Matrix'' (Roof Books, 1996) * ''Mob'' (O Books, 1994) * ''A Motive for Mayhem'' (Potes & Poets, 1989) * ''Climate Plus'' (Coincidence Press: Second Season, 1986) * ''From Solids'' (Roof Books, 1983)

References

External links

Official website
* *
Biography at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
{{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Abigail American filmmakers American animated film directors American women writers Harvard Fellows Radcliffe College alumni Massachusetts College of Art and Design faculty New York University faculty Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Yale School of Art alumni 1948 births Living people American women animators Lambda Literary Award winners American women academics 21st-century American women