Collected Stones

Jimmie Durham was an artist, poet, writer, and activist whose work deconstructs the stereotypes and prejudices that underlie Western culture. Expanding on this theme, the film works—created in collaboration with his life partner, Maria Thereza Alves— Collected Stones (Incident at Middelberg, A Sone from Metternich's House in Bohemia, 13 Rue Fenelon, Enough!, A Heavy Stone, HTV, Pink Granite at Work, Un Projet a Lille, Nature Morte, Towards Light, A Stone at Home in Bed Asleep, Stoning the Refrigerator, Brazilian Bloodstone)— carry strong critical resonance. Each film examines the relationship between history and environment, architecture and monumentality, and challenges political power structures and national identity narratives. Within these works, Durham depicts behaviors and norms of coexistence across diverse social and cultural formations. As extensions of his sculpture, drawings, and poetry, Durham’s films investigate how people engage with both physical and societal architectures. Their titles reflect wordplay, dry and incisive humor, and, above all, irony. He consistently critiques the political and cultural forces that shape contemporary discourse, histories of oppression, the futility of violence, and the marginalization of minority groups. Using both natural and artificial materials, Durham favors those historically employed as tools. He explores the intrinsic properties of bones, wood, feathers, and stones—materials he gathers on walks. This approach is evident in the films from the Collected Stones. For Durham, stone is neither material nor metaphor; it is a generative force that resists institutionalization, representation, and monumentality.