My Name is Oona

In January 2025 the acclaimed Swedish filmmaker Gunvor Nelson died, 93 years old. My Name is Oona from 1969 is her most famous film, as well as her breakthrough on the American avant-garde film scene. The film, which has been called one of the “most perfect examples of poetic cinema”, is a portrait of her daughter Oona, at the time nine years old. Oona is seen playing freely outdoors, in one part of the film she is riding on a small horse, apparently blissfully abandoned on the beach, free to do wherever she may choose. Still, we know that her mother is there watching over her, the camera also acting as the mother’s gaze.

The sound of the film is important. We hear the voice of Oona repeating the names of the days of the week and saying “my name is Oona” over and over. The phrases are edited into an expressive rythmical structure that accompanies the visuals (listen through the sound-shower). The soundtrack is recorded together with the American musicians Patrick Gleason and Steve Reich. Nelson recorded Oona saying her name in different ways, and after hearing about the project, Reich sent Nelson a recording he had made of Oona saying the days of the week. Once the sound was complete, Gunvor Nelson made a final cut of the film by editing the image track based on the audio.

In many of her major works, Gunvor Nelson addresses topics like womanhood, childhood, memory, and the symbolism of natural forces — particularly in relation to female beauty and power. Her films are often dreamlike, combined with fine attention to the effects of language and sound on the moving image. Nelson herself called her films “personal” rather than “experimental” or “avant-garde”.

- The film adds the unbeatable feeling of freely roaming your environment to the atrium, says Art Initiative director Tinni Ernsjöö Rappe.

Gunvor Nelson was born in 1931 in Kristinehamn in Sweden. After studies at Konstfack she moved to California in 1953 for further studies in art. Nelson met her husband-to-be Robert Nelson when she was studying at the California School of Fine Arts (from 1961 onwards, the San Francisco Art Institute). Robert Nelson is one of the great humorists of the American avant-garde. The Nelson couple were a vital part of the new film culture that evolved in the San Francisco area. Between 1970 and 1992 she worked as a film teacher at San Francisco Art Institute.

Gunvor Nelson died on January 6, 2025.

She was one of the most highly acclaimed filmmakers in classic American avant-garde film.