Feline Whispers

This dreamy video shows Afra Eisma’s solo exhibition Feline Whispers (2020) through her own eyes. Sit back and let it wash over you.

Feline Whispers is inspired by Eisma’s imaginary cat, Larry, and the generosity involved in the speculative care for this pet. The exhibition will explore domestic space as an extension of the body, where nourishment and sharing are important counters to a world so full of deprivation and exclusion. Could ideas be tended to like they are our imaginary pets, feeding them, petting them, loving them?

It is said that cats spread a parasite that causes people and mice to want to be close to them, it is also said that cats have such fluid bodies they can be considered a liquid, they have soaked themselves into the fabric of the human home. The speculative pet, a cat, lives within Eisma’s work and like cats have domesticated themselves over time, Feline Whispers is an enchanting exercise how generosity is an infectious game of caring and being cared for. Eisma shows elements from domestic life such as ceramics, tapestries, furniture or a robot vacuum cleaner as sites where a spirit of giving can emerge — sharing as an act of care for small imaginary pets and humans of all sizes. Opening on Valentine’s Day, join in to drink the love potion and allow feline whispers into your home and your body.

Video made in collaboration with Marnix van Uum & Bob Demper