What Means Something

What Means Something, Ben Rivers, Reino Unido, 2016, 67' OV with Spanish subtitles

Artist Rosalie Wylie was born in Kent in 1934, and went to the Dover art school in the fifties, a period she herself defines as “her phase as a rebellious art student”. The curious thing about her biography is that she disappears completely from the art scene for decades; and only reappears when she’s over seventy, with all her energy and originality, and starts winning prizes and gaining recognition in the London art world, with exhibitions at the Tate art gallery and the most important galleries in the country. It’s when she becomes a cult artist. This film is a portrait of Rose through the camera/hands of Ben Rivers, another of those London artists who has been on the lists of the country’s most interesting and recognized artists for years. Rivers visited Tabakalera when we were still under construction, and gave a cinema workshop together with Ben Russell. But since then we hadn’t had the opportunity to screen any of his works. Rivers defines his work like this: “I met Rose years ago and we became friends. I went to visit her studio and she had the opportunity to see some of my films. Fortunately, she liked them. I asked her if I could make a film about her and she agreed. The film is therefore a meeting of two friends”.