MIRIAM

Artist Statement and Biography

ABOUT MK

Miriam Kruishoop is a Dutch/American award-winning visual artist and filmmaker. She graduated with honors from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. MK won the "Citroen Award" at the Dutch Film Festival for “Best Graduation Film”, for her short DA SILVA despite the fact she was only in her 3rd year.

She wrote and directed her first feature film Vive Elle when she was in her 4th year, on an exchange program in Paris. While still in school she won multiple awards for her short films Sometimes it's Hard to be a Woman and Da Silva. She was nominated for a "Tiger Award" at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and multiple “Gouden Kalf” Awards at the Dutch Film Festival for her second feature Unter Den Palmen, which was unprecedented. She won the "Culture Prize of the City of Amsterdam" for her visual art and was a runner up for the “National Dutch Culture Prize”.

MK’s work, from the stylized features Vive Elle and Unter Den Palmen, starring 70’s film icon Helmut Berger, to the politically conscious immigrant story Greencard Warriors, centers around individuals who struggle with their isolated, sometimes alienated existence. Fiction or reality, MK focuses on people and their stories, using their narrative to amplify the conversation about the 'invisible' people in our society. In her earlier work MK’s ‘stories’ evolved mainly around women addressing mental and physical abuse and isolation.

Films like Sometimes it's Hard to be a Woman, Vedette Rabies and Vive Elle show a more literal interpretation of these themes featuring the interaction between men and women. While later video installations like Unbreakable, Distress and Walk Of Shame feature women only, removing the male from the imagery. For example, in the multi-screen video installation Unbreakable we see a woman being hit by a fist that moves in and out of frame. The beating has little effect. The woman remains composed. It reflects the long fight of women slowly but surely strengthening their position in a male dominated society.
Having lived in the US for over a decade, MK has been strongly influenced by her surroundings and American society at large—the disparity and the deliberate suppression of minorities, police brutality, and racism. MK’s passion for exploring the cultural narratives in America spans a diverse set of creative genres. For example, in her feature film Greencard Warriors she focused on the issue of army recruitment of young undocumented Latinos. In her ImAngryToo solo exhibition from early 2015, MK tapped into a simmering sentiment well before the #METOO movement. She also created a series of neons of curse words both in Arabic and English playing in on the growing anti Muslim sentiment. She identifies a dialogue and feeling that is prevalent and urgent today.

In her newly created video installation em>Living in America, MK teamed up with teenager Niaya Jones, a prominent ‘krumping’ dancer from Nickerson Gardens, Watts. Through dance, the video helps us experience what it’s like being African American in today’s America and the pain Niaya feels growing up in the projects. Like a film script MK’s works are carefully choreographed and edited. She doesn’t use any special effects or computer manipulation.

MK works in different media, including film, video, neon, light, installation art and photography. Her work has been exhibited by Reflex Modern Art Gallery, by The Witzenhausen Gallery in New York and is currently represented by NL=US. MK has participated in numerous group shows and international art fairs and film fe stivals around the world. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Filmography

  • 2020 Estilo Americano (Short, Writer, Director)
  • 2019 Living in America (Video, Choreographer/Director)
  • 2016 Sing You Home (Feature, Writer)
  • 2015 Unbreakable (Video, Director/Cinematographer/Editor)
  • 2014 Greencard Warriors (Feature, Writer/Director/Producer)
  • 2012 Walk of Shame (Video, Cinematographer/Director/Editor)
  • 2011 Hurt (Video, Cinematographer/Director/Editor)
  • 2010 Possession (Video, Cinematographer/Writer/Director/Editor)
  • 2007 Condemned (Video, Director/Editor)
  • 2000 Sonic Fragments (Video, Director)
  • 2000 Vedette (Short, Cinematographer/Writer/Director/Editor)
  • 2000 Unter Den Palmen (Feature, Writer/Director)
  • 1999 Rabies (Short, Cinematographer/Writer/Director/Editor)
  • 1998 Vive Elle (Feature, Cinematographer/Writer/Director/Producer/Editor)
  • 1997 Sometimes it’s Hard to be a Woman (Short, Cinematographer/Writer/Director/Producer/Editor)
  • 1996 Da Silva (short, Writer/Director/Producer/Editor)

Awards & Nominations

  • Best Film Series at CineGear Expo
  • Audience Award at CineGear Expo
  • Best Latinx Film at Cleveland International Film Festival
  • Best Film at Wildsound Latino Feedback Film Festival
  • Audience Award at Wildsound Latino Feedback Film Festival
  • Best Ensamble Cast at Festigious International Film Festival
  • Best Ensemble Cast at Top Shorts Film FestivalAudience Award
  • Best Director Award at the LA Latino Film Festival
  • Best Director at the New York International Film Festival
  • Best Latino Film at the New York International Film Festival
  • Best Director at La Femme Festival
  • Best Feature Audience Award at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival
  • Best Actor Award at the California Film Awards
  • Best Director at the Julian Dubuque International Film Festival
  • The Grand Jury Price at the Julian Dubuque International Film Festival
  • Tiger Award Rotterdam International Film Festival
  • Culture Prize of the City of Amsterdam
  • Fuji Short Film Award
  • Citroen Award Best Graduation film of the Netherlands Gouden Kalf Best Cinematography
  • Nominated The Alliance of Women Film Journalists' EDA Award at the St Louis International Film Festival.
  • Nominated The Audience Award at Dallas International Film Festival
  • Nominated Best Soundtrack at Julian Dubuque International Film Festival
  • Nominated Gouden Kalf Best Director Nominated National Dutch Culture Prize

Shows & Exhibitions

  • 2021 Solo show @ Aldo Chaparro Studios, Mexico City
  • 2021 Group show @ Tufekian Fine Art Gallery, Los Angeles
  • 2021 Group show @ Art Share LA, Los Angeles
  • 2021 Solo Show at Pen + Brush, New York
  • 2020 Fresh Eyes, Art Fair, Amsterdam
  • 2020 UNSEEN, Art Fair, Amsterdam
  • 2020 Solo Show Living in America Performance (1 month running) @ National Theater Rotterdam
  • 2020 Group Show, POSTER @ DENK Gallery, Los Angeles - Cancelled
  • 2019 Big Art Art Fair, Zaandam
  • 2019 Group Exhibition "State of Mind" Go Gallery, Amsterdam
  • 2019 Solo Exhibition "Living in America" @ NL=US Art Gallery, Rotterdam
  • 2018 YIA Art Fair, Paris
  • 2017 Rotterdam Contemporary Art Fair
  • 2016 Art The Hague Art Fair (group)
  • 2015 ‘Street Life’, group show @ art gallery Pulchri Studio, The Hague
  • 2015 Solo Exhibition ‘#I’mAngryToo” @ NL=US Art Gallery, Rotterdam
  • 2014 Summer photography exhibition Classics NL=US Art gallery
  • 2013 KUNSTRAI Art Fair NL=US Art, Amsterdam
  • 2013 Art at he Warehouse Art Fair NL=US Art
  • 2010 PAN Art Fair, Amsterdam
  • 2010 Group Show at Witzenhausen Gallery, New York
  • 2008 Photo Exhibition Chelsea Armory New York
  • 2007 Photo Exhibition Catto Gallery at Tabby Lounge,London
  • 2003 Photo Exhibition Reflex Modern Art Gallery, Amsterdam
  • 2000 Photo & Video Mixed Media Exhibition de Paviljoens, Almere

“Driven by a strong sense of idealism that if we openly address our problems we can overcome our differences and unite.”

Artist Statement