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ana francisco-horsthuis

schrijven , fotografie , film , Artistiek onderzoek

i wore orthopedic boots as a child. They were ugly, undeserving shoes. And thus, as soon as i judged my grandparents’ plot of land to be sufficiently overgrown, and after some meticulous planning, i shoved the ugly boots’ unworthiness as far in as my five-year-old arms could. All those interested were later informed that i had had the misfortune of having a mouse steal my shoes. Then as now, collaborative storytelling with the human and the more-than-human, the imagining of alternative possibilities, resourcefulness, and working patiently and intentionally while allowing for chance and surprise, are fundamental pieces in the ways i work.
i research and make using images and words. i use digital and analogue still and moving images, archival and borrowed material, interventions such as collage and embroidery, and poetic and discursive text to probe memory and imagination, identity and belonging, home and/as body.
Collaborative work, work that is able to return to where it was born, and relational making that departs from kin-/friendships are increasingly important aspects in my practice.
i hold a master of arts in fine art and design (specialization: photography and society) by the royal academy of art the hague (kabk). i also hold a phd in cognitive neuroscience and social sciences by the radboud university nijmegen and a bachelor of science in clinical psychology by the university of algarve. i completed a documentary photography certificate at the bronx documentary center and a visual storytelling certificate at the international center for photography in new york. i have worked internationally and exhibited work in the united states, the netherlands, greece, and japan. i am a fotodok lighthouse talent and received an award of excellence in the alexia’s vision grant category.

and then the wolves invite me to dance
and then the wolves invite me to dance - and then the wolves invite me to dance (2019-2025) is a project developed in collaboration with six people diagnosed with schizophrenia. when something is as stigmatized as schizophrenia is, it is incredibly difficult to talk about it, to look for help and care, to be able to exist in the societies we built and maintain for the “typical” and the “normal”. consequently, people who live with highly stigmatized conditions do live with a double illness—the condition itself and the associated stigma and discrimination, which tragically impact their lives and treatment and often result in human rights violations. and then the wolves invite me to dance was born from a joint wish to tell stories of humanness and sameness while acknowledging difference—inside and outside worlds can be felt and experienced in ways that you and i have never felt or experienced them. and then the wolves invite me to dance includes portraits, visual representations of perceptions and feelings, and images made in collaboration with or created by those who are part of the project. there is also sound and text: excerpts of the participants’ testimonies and of my journals, and fragments of scientific evidence. and then the wolves invite me to dance received an award of excellence in the alexia’s vision grant category.
the dead can dance too
the dead can dance too - the dead can dance too is an essay-like piece, part of a project titled of flesh and terra that narrates a search for psychological belonging, motivated by a discovery of genetic belonging. the dead can dance too borrows a great-great-grandmother's imagined perspective to describe and ponder on this process of (re)search for belonging and its outcomes. it also considers the impact of (the making of) images in memory creation and remembrance. two different moments in the (re)search process can be found in the essay: one focused on soil as container of traces, another focused on body/self as a means to look for.
there will be impermanence
there will be impermanence - a reflection on how spaces, objects, and things can prepare one for loss and absence (photography and film)
under a sea that swallows
under a sea that swallows - under a sea that swallows engages the voice of the Atlantic Eel, an endangered species, to surface the memories of those who inhabited the once fertile, now submerged Doggerland. The Eel, foreseeing passenger in a sea that swallows, is the teller of a cautionary tale, bridging past and future. This project uses more-than-human storytelling, appropriated moving image, and sonic representations of the human body. More-than-human storytelling is used to foster a continuum between the human and the more-than-human and to motivate self-conscious attendance to the impact of humanness through an alternative lens. The appropriation of moving image is symbolic of humans’ appropriative nature. The intentionally human soundscape—a composition built from data from genetic sequencing and medical examination readings—subverts the use of the more-than-human to unidirectionally benefit the human while simultaneously representing ideas of care and healing. under a sea that swallows aims to increase the audience’s willingness to be more informed about what the present and future of the Doggerbank are and the impacts that those have on the lives of both the more-than-human and the human.
remembering things that have not happened fills a voidthat is left by forgetting that which occurred
remembering things that haven't happened fills a void that is left by forgetting that which occurred - an essay on the memory that spaces hold or how to find memories i do not recall in spaces that never existed (photography, intervened with plant and paper collage and embroidery)
can dormant seeds bloom
can dormant seeds bloom - This place was once a tower, a home, a garden. Now it is a square. It remembers the comings and goings of peoples, from Turks, to Slavs, to Jews and Greeks. Time has washed away the stains, yet traces linger still. In the burst of pigeon flight, to the slow slink of the ginger cat. Amongst the blues and reds of the scrawling graffiti and in the scarred bark of the two trees. It rests on the hands and faces of the people that sit in the shade of the byzantine wall. A central stage for small acts, the square invited us to sit and watch the shadows grow. What can be found in absence? Can dormant seeds bloom? From the physical act of placing a seed in the soil to the chance encounter of two like-minded strangers, we document these encounters. Through this artistic intervention, we have seen the ghosts of the city, hiding in the quiet whispers of the walls. Developed in collaboration with Anastasiya Miseyko, Ben Morrison, and Roger Anis.
Trillium
Trillium - A short documentary film focused on a couple who makes soaps in Maine, US.

when pine began to grow, research residency

Datum:
Locatie: Bronx
In samenwerking met: Bronx Documentary Center

I was at the Bronx Documentary Center (BDC) for a research residency. During my time at the BDC I was mentored by Mike Kamber, Founder and Creative Director—and an award-winning photographer and journalist whose work has appeared in nearly every major news magazine across the United States and Europe. Additionally, I discussed ideas and progress with the director and fellows of the BDC Fims Fellowship, a program designed to support documentary filmmakers.

finding light within the dark

Datum:
Locatie: online
In samenwerking met: Too Tired Project

Group exhibition on mental health-related topics

https://tootiredproject.com/finding-light-within-the-dark

and then the woves invite me to dance

Datum:
Locatie: Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: Bario

Solo exhibition of the project and then the wolves invite me to dance

https://anafrancis.co/and-then-the-wolves-invite-me-to-dance

and then the wolves invite me to dance

Datum:
Locatie: Bronx
In samenwerking met: Bronx Documentary Center

Book launch and artist talk with schizophrenia activist Michelle Hammer.

https://www.bronxdoc.org/events/past-events/ana/

from below

Datum:
Locatie: Brooklyn
In samenwerking met: Threads

Invited spoken word on the usage of AI as therapist

embodied memory in of flesh and terra

Datum:
Locatie: Viana do Castelo
In samenwerking met: Performativity(ies) of Memory(ies) Interdisciplinary Conference

Invited talk about the process of artistic research in the project of flesh and terra

https://pmic2025.wordpress.com/publications/

matter does matter

Datum:
Locatie: The Hague
In samenwerking met: Library of the Royal Academy of Art

Group exhibition of selected theses

of flesh and terra

Datum:
Locatie: The Hague

in of flesh and terra, i narrate a search for psychological belonging motivated by a discovery of genetic belonging. i converse with myself, a great-great-grandmother, and the soil i collected in the places this ancestor inhabited. these imagined dialogues resulted in and are part of two entities—the dead can dance too, a moving-image essay, and anatomy of a memory, a mixed-media installation.

https://anafrancis.co/of-flesh-and-terra

what we wish someone had told us

Datum:
Locatie: Utrecht
In samenwerking met: FOTODOK

Performative dinner with spoken word at FOTODOK in the context of the Lighthouse Talent Program.

00:05:59

Datum:
Locatie: The Hague
In samenwerking met: Embassy of the North Sea and Doggerland Foundation

Group exhibition in conversation with the Embassy of the North Sea and the Doggerland Foundation. Video and installation.
under a sea that swallows engages the voice of the Atlantic Eel, an endangered species, to surface the memories of those who inhabited the once fertile, now submerged Doggerland. The Eel, foreseeing passenger in a sea that swallows, is the teller of a cautionary tale, bridging past and future. This project uses more-than-human storytelling.i

https://anafrancis.co/under-a-sea

can dormant seeds bloom

Datum:
Locatie: Thessaloniki
In samenwerking met: Beetroot

Collaborative film making with Anastasia Miseyko, Ben Morrison, and Roger Anis and installation in space.

https://anafrancis.co/can-dormant-seeds-bloom

and then the wolves invite me to dance

Datum:
Locatie: Bronx
In samenwerking met: Bronx Documentary Center

Residency focused on the development of darkroom skills and experimentation.

Documentary filmmaking residency

Datum:
Locatie: Rockland
In samenwerking met: Bill Gentile, The Bronx Documentary Center

Filmmaking residency in Rockland, Maine.

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