In celebration of LGBT+ History Month in February, Asten Holmes-Elliott’s ARTICLE 16 (2021) celebrates the non-traditional family unit.
During 2021, Holmes-Elliott invited three queer and non-traditional households to capture their own typical family moments on 8mm film. These recordings were hand-developed by the artist and edited to form three new digitised film works.
“The artwork hopes to capture LGBTQI+ families using a format that has been traditionally associated with the typical ‘nuclear family’. It’s a way to playfully insert ourselves as queer people and families into a shared cultural memory as a way to challenge certain assumptions about what makes a family, to increase our visibility, and to carve out some space.”
Article 16 from the Declaration of Human Rights states that: “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.” Holmes-Elliott’s ARTICLE 16 utilises the familiar format of 8mm home movies to challenge stereotypes and presumptions about family values, gender roles and sexuality.
Asten Holmes-Elliott is an artist and filmmaker whose work examines ideas of identity, otherness and belonging. Through their work they highlight the stories and experiences of underrepresented groups and communities to resist their erasure and exclusion.
To read a curatorial text by Dr Eleanor K. Jones, a lecturer at the University of Southampton interested in queer theory and disability studies, click here.
ARTICLE 16 was made in partnership with ‘a space’ arts, Solent University and John Hansard Gallery, using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.