Multiple streams of blood and DNA converge in any family history. But there are often others that remain largely hidden or submerged. Rene Matić’s video Many Rivers is an intimate, moving portrait of the artist’s father, Paul, and the struggles he has faced, that opens out into a stark and sobering exposure of the divisive, destructive strictures of race and class in post-war Britain. When Rene was growing up, Paul was a figure of anecdote and passing recollection, whose chequered past (bad boy, Rude boy, soul boy), uncertain present and unpredictable, health-blighted future bring mixed reactions from those who are close to him – Rene’s mother, Paul’s doting sister, and the other siblings with whom he shared a home on a Peterborough housing estate. Paul has long been a captivating riddle to his daughter and is evidently still something of a mystery to himself – although his emotions and compulsions start to become clearer the more that he shares and confides, most notably in his encounter with his own similarly absent father. In his mercurial, occasionally wayward life, Paul has been and done many things (some of which he is proud of, some of which he might want to forget), but he is, most of all, a survivor – a fact that this compelling, heartfelt film deftly and vividly celebrates.
Many Rivers
Rene Matić
Project Overview
Exhibition Dates
South London Gallery
23 September — 27 November 2022
Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Austria
28 January — 18 March 2023
Watch Rene Matić in conversation with Emma Dabiri.
Commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella as part of BEYOND #2
Media
Press
The Guardian | Artist Rene Matić: ‘This story is about what, if anything, saves us’
26 September 2022
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Artforum | Critics’ Picks: Rene Matić at South London Gallery
26 September 2022
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Frieze | The Best Shows to See in London During Frieze
23 November 2022
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CURA. | Rene Matić: upon this rock
24 July 2023
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DAZED | London artist Rene Matić is subverting white skinhead culture
23 November 2022
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DAZED | Art shows to leave the house for this September
21 September 2022
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The Upcoming | Simeon Barclay and Rene Matić explore masculinity: In the Name of the Father and Upon
23 November 2022
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Wallpaper Magazine | Two South London Gallery shows explore selfhood and subcultures
23 November 2022
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