SHORT SYNOPSIS (2001), 52 min.

Portrait of cutting edge artist Tracy Payne, who is filmed during her process of coming to terms with recent memories of childhood sexual trauma.

Viewer review:

“A wonderful documentary on an interesting, captivating and talented artist, due to the disturbing background to her life, and the sexual explicitness of her art-it might not be suited for young children”

Official Selection:

-Asolo Art Film Festival (Italy)

-International Festival of Woman Directors (Paris)

Camera, Sound, Editing, and Production:

Renée Scheltema.

SYNOPSIS :

The documentary “Hush, A Portrait of Tracy Payne”, gives an interesting insight into the emotionally charged world of a 31 year old visual artist who is dealing with recent memories of childhood sexual trauma.

Through her experimental art, she is so courageous to confront her fears, and  starts the process of healing by constantly pushing her boundaries.

Renée follows Tracy for a period of 2 years as she deals with her trauma, and acts out different alter-ego’s:

Meet “Polly”, who mirrors the life of the 10 year old Tracy- an innocent schoolgirl, with a wig of long brown hair, making infantile drawings on the canvas.

Meet “Didi”, the cyberpunk, with a blonde wig, who ventures out into the dark nights of Cape-Town, making graffiti art under a fly-over.

The camera follows Tracy everywhere: While taking ecstasy at a rave party, lessons in Tai Chi , oil painting on a velvet canvas and violating the canvas with a smoldering iron.

When Tracy is fed up with Polly, she throws her over the bridge...