Jonas Mekas. Photograph: Liz Wendelbo © Jonas Mekas
Written by Hatty Nestor
He is the godfather of American avant-garde cinema. The films depicted in this article are fragments of his life, encounters with people and events, snippets of his genius. His current show at the Serpentine gallery demonstrates an intimate account of his unique life. The people he met, interviewed, his voice is everywhere, and he is still a beautiful inspiration to us all. Perhaps his popularity doesn’t just revolve around the characters he has documented – Lennon, Warhol, Nico to name a few – it’s the way they were depicted in his films, the intricate attention to detail. His films are like home movies, the faded aesthetic quality and over exposed bleach outs.
