A Topography of Sea, 2010
(excerpts from video shown here 05:18 min)
HDV two-channel video, 16:45 min
This work takes as a starting point the portrayal of a landscape and a consideration of the relationship we sustain to a specific place. It continues to explore the construction of an image; the cinematic and the photographic as well as the structure of narrative and language.
The video is filmed in a fishing village on an island off the west coast of Sweden. However, the intention was always to create an anonymous and isolated landscape. It is evident that we are somewhere in the north yet exact time or place cannot be defined. It is filmed with long uninterrupted takes, taking the moving image into the direct stillness of a photograph. Long shots are used to create a pause within time and a correlation between stasis and mobility, movement and arrest. The imagery shifts from interior to exterior, portrait to landscape. The common denominator is the absence of movement and an austere sensibility.
The narrative is non-linear and there is no obvious end or beginning. A young woman narrates the script in Swedish with subtitles in English. As the story unfolds we understand that the voice and subtitles are not in sync. Telling the same story in different languages a narrative unfolds about a mother and a daughter, landscape, belonging, loss , absence and time.
The video is approximately 16 minutes long and runs on a loop so the piece can be viewed at any time when installed in a gallery. It is edited for both a screening and as an installation in a gallery.
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