Rene Matić
Watch a video with Turner Prize nominee Rene Matić and explore family, in-betweenness and British identity through discussion points
Rene: I always had this view that the art was the therapy, and that really does work. It works, but not all the time.
I cannot walk around the world with this tattoo on my back and act like it’s not heavy.
So, I grew up in the East Midlands. Going home is always a little bit, like, spicy and sweet all wrapped into one, because, you know, it’s not exactly a place that feels very safe still because of the politics and the opinions. Everything’s a little bit bleak, but I do thrive in that bleakness, because that’s what I grew up in. And I like that person, actually, that kid, because they were smart and imaginative.
One of my works is called Destination/Departure and it’s the picture Derek Ridgers took of me, of my back tattoo. It says, ‘Born British, Die British,’ that I got for a performance piece. I think that anyone can talk about home in that way, as a point of destination and departure, and the home can be a body or a person or a place. Also, this idea of destination and departure means that there’s this in-betweenness as well that’s kind of unspoken about.
The kind of obsession with understanding Britishness, or not understanding it, came from my love of the skinhead subculture. My dad is a Black skinhead, and that became his culture, and therefore my culture, and I think as someone in this in-betweenness. And for me, the skinheads were that, because they were born of a mixed marriage between white working-class people and West Indian people.
‘No ball games’ and a Union Jack. Perfect. Should have brough my camera.
I started to become obsessed with, yeah, just the decline of Empire and my part in that. The kind of irony of my existence in this country. The kind of joy that I could gain from pissing people off, and all I had to do was, you know, be born.
I used to say that my whiteness and my Blackness felt like it was at war, often, in my body. That didn’t feel ... it didn’t make me feel good, using that language, because I got brought up by a predominantly white family, who love me deeply but can’t necessarily understand everything that I am, and that means that I haven’t always been able to understand everything that I am. And being disappointed by most things in the world and finding that I was super angry, and that anger wasn’t serving me so much, and actually, it was kind of destroying me.
Then I read this book called Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? By Kathleen Collins, where she says, ‘What about the love of two human beings who may, in spite of or instead of or because of or after the fact of?’ and that was the first moment that I thought, ‘This doesn’t have to be a war. It’s everywhere, but don’t let that be in you.’
Giving myself a bit of a place, that in-betweenness, where I don’t have to be understood, or even understand myself.
My whole family love me so much and I love them so much, and love is complicated, but I think what my upbringing taught me is how to love in spite of anything. And I realised that this is the only way that I could survive. And actually to look at love and to recognise where love has been even in places that I thought it wasn’t before.
Hello!
Family member: Are you alright, my darling?
Rene: I am.
Family member: Aww, love you.
Rene: Love you, too. Thank you so much for having us.
Family member: I’m so glad you’re here!
About the video
Encourage your students to respond to the video in their own ways – perhaps by making notes, doodles or drawings, or through gestures and sounds.
Rene Matić asks what we mean by 'Britishness', thinking beyond a fixed place and towards something they carry with them, everywhere.
“What my upbringing taught me was how to love in spite of anything”
Rene Matić
Join Rene Matić on a trip back to their hometown of Peterborough. Drawing on their personal history, Matić reflects on a fascination with subcultures and the tensions of their suburban upbringing.
A note on language
Skinhead: The term ‘skinhead’ is here being used as it first emerged in 1960s London, referring to an anti-racist or apolitical group made up of working-class white people and recent immigrants from the Caribbean, united by love of music and class solidarity. The skinhead subculture developed from other groups such as working-class mods and rude boys (originating in Jamaica), who lived in the same London neighbourhoods, sharing music tastes in reggae and ska. In the late 1970s the skinhead movement split into multiple subgenres and subgroups, some of which had a more overtly right-wing tone, and throughout the 1980s ‘skinhead’ became synonymous in the public’s view with the far-right skinheads associated with the National Front and other groups. Today, we tend to understand the term as a stand-in for ‘fascist’ or ‘neo-Nazi,' but the term’s history complicates this.
Discuss
Your students' ideas and experiences are the best starting point for any discussion. Using the prompts below, support meaningful and creative discussions in the classroom about the video’s key themes. Discover how Rene Matić's practice can inspire your students to learn with art.
Home and Family
Matić walks around their hometown and shares images and stories of their family and themselves as a child. They talk about drawing on and struggling with their personal history, and the history of the United Kingdom, in their artwork.
Prompts
- We often think about home as a place, but Matić says home can also be a body or a person, a destination or a departure. What feels like home to you?
- Matić’s work often features images of their family and close friends. If you could take a picture of someone close to you, who would it be?
- Matić speaks about the importance of love in their life and work, saying that they’ve learned to ‘look at love and to recognise where love has been, even in places I thought it wasn’t before.’ How do you show love to others? If you were to make an artwork to express your love for a family member or friend, what might it look like?
In Between Identities
Matić talks about being mixed-race and often feeling out of place, or like the two sides of their identity were at war with each other. They speak about realising the possibility of being in between, as it’s a space 'where I don’t have to be understood or even understand myself.'
Prompts
- Matić is interested in the ways in which their identity does and does not overlap with ideas of ‘Britishness’. Their art asks us where and how we come to understand what it means to be ‘British’ today. Where do you see or hear messages about what ‘Britishness’ is? Do you feel like they accurately reflect you and your classmates’ experiences?
- In the video, Matić talks about identities created from working-class solidarity movements as spaces of in-betweenness, using the example of skinheads. They liked the fact that people of very different backgrounds could share the same subculture identity. What are some subcultures in your life or world? What subcultures do you see providing spaces for in-betweenness today?
Making Art Today
Matić is one of four artists nominated for the 2025 Turner Prize, which celebrates the best of British art today. By asking questions around what it means to be British, and by exploring home, family, and love, Matić brings an important perspective to contemporary art in their own way.
Prompts
- “Contemporary art” means any artwork made in the present or recent past. Can you think of any other contemporary artists you’ve heard of before? What similarities and differences can you find between them and Matić?
- What do you think artworks should say? Do they need to have an important message? Why, or why not?
- What might you find out about Matić and their practice if you spent time with them as they worked?
How to Use Artist Stories
Introduce art and artists into your classroom with Artist Stories resources. The resources combine engaging videos and thoughtful discussion points to encourage confidence, self-expression and critical thinking. Art is a powerful tool for discussing the big ideas that impact young people's lives today.
- Explore the video:
- Read About the video to introduce the artist to your students.
- Project the video or watch it in smaller groups.
- Each video is between 3–10 minutes.
- Transcripts are included where available.
2. Discuss the video:
- Select discussion prompts from the lists to frame your conversation.
- Use a mix of individual reflection, pair work and group discussion.
- Use one set of prompts to explore a theme in depth or shape your discussion across different themes.
- Discussion prompts can also be used in a Q&A format.
