Nénette, who was born in Borneo, spent more than fifty years in the zoo located inside the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Children would point at her and ask, “Is Nénette the same as me?” “Nénette came here in 1972.” Humans become excited by Nenette’s every tiny movement, though she can barely move anymore. At the entrance to the exhibit room, a sign reads, “Please be quiet for the animals.” Nénette has lived entirely to suit our purposes. Unable to stop recording, I stepped outside the exhibit room and ran into her keeper, who was locking Nénette’s cage. Many keys hung from her waist, and with their sound, she disappeared into the distance. Surely, she was also me.
The existence of animals and humans remains unchanged, yet time (and era) transforms the relationship between us. This prompts us to perceive time not as linear progression, but as something recurring – fleeting for visitors, yet endlessly repeating for Nénette.