Here’s a film I made in 2013. Back in the mid 90’s I became interested in an 18thc genre of painting portraying monkeys as painters at the easel. It seemed to sum up how I felt about my own painting at the time.
I later read Roger Fout’s book Next of Kin, about his successful attempts to teach a Chimpanzee called Washoe to use sign language.
There is something in this relationship that reflects the dynamics of Human Relations on all levels from Parenting to Social Engineering and Colonialism. The Chimp becomes the stubborn partner or the rebel against cultural imperialism.
Lucy Newman played the Teacher.