Drifting

Drifting is a short text in which the first-person narrator says farewell to his lover. As becomes clear from his account, she committed suicide when they were both still young. At the end of his life, the narrator tries to get everything together. He speaks about the tragedy, but also about her inconceivable beauty, which he carries with him. But at the end of his discourse, it becomes clear that his beloved was more than just a lover.

Originally written in Dutch, the text was translated into French for the video 'Perte' (2004). Hans Op de Beeck was prompted by the comprehensive monograph 'On Vanishing' (2007) to create an English-language version of both the text and the video, and to release the limited-edition artistic publication Drifting.