I Still Had To Curtsy - Myriam Thyes

Until the 1970s in Germany, girls had to curtsy and boys had to do a servant; some rarely and on the side, other children under strict observation and in front of all adults. For girls in particular, this was often humiliating. In these videos, women curtsy in memory of their childhood. The texts quote some of their comments on curtsying. The position of the videos high above the audience reverses the perspective: the women curtsy down at us. The 2026 4K version features music: W. A. Mozart’s Minuet in G major alludes to the aristocratic, courtly origins of the bourgeois custom of having girls curtsy.

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Thanks to: Inken Boje, Maria Anna Dewes, Margret Eicher, Carola Eggeling, Ingrid Flohry, C.U. Frank, Dorothea Gelker, Ingrid Herrndorf, Stephanie Jaeckel, Birgit Jensen, Gudrun Kemsa, Karoline Künkler, Ulrike Münchhoff, Edith Oellers, Ute Reeh, Cornelia Schwabe.