Year of release: 2020
Original format: 35mm film
Running time: 1 minute
Screening format: digital screening versions available
Credits: A film by Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore
Production: Sundog Media
Distribution and sales: Sundog Media sundogmedia@gmail.com
Synopsis
Film poem created with a constellation of wild flowers growing by the shore of the River Plym estuary and upcycled 35mm cellulose acetate film, once used for spacing during ‘analogue’ film-making.
Description
Animation created with plants growing wild on reclaimed land by the shore of the Laira, the upper part of the River Plym estuary to the east of Plymouth on the southwest coast of Britain. The flowers from the verge were collected during our walks along the estuary, then the petals and leaves were laid onto strips of 35mm clear movie film to create the imagery. The sound design is an original musical composition, improvised to the stream of botanical moving images, mixed with audio field recordings made at the location. The petals and leaves stream past as the haunting soundscape ebbs and flows.
The film reflects the cyclical nature of the seasons and the twice-daily rhythm of tides, the ebb and flow between the fresh water of the River Plym as it floods into the Laira to meet the sea water pushing inland from the ocean. The name ‘Laira’ originates from the end of the 16th century and derives from an ancient Celtic word that corresponds to the Welsh word, llaeru, meaning ‘to ebb’ (Richards, 1861). Flow shows the beauty and complexity of the common roadside flowers we might normally pass without barely a glance: this poetic practice is a radical alternative to mainstream landscape and nature film-making.
Exhibition
2022
One Minute volume 10, 303 Projects gallery Lowestoft, Suffolk (January 2022)
2021
Contemporary Art Ruhr, presented by Andre Werner, Directors Lounge, as part of the One Minute volume 10 artists' moving image programme curated by Kerry Baldry, Berlin, Germany (6 and 7 November 2021)
Waste Art exhibition, curated by artist Ina Loitzl, the Kepler Hall art space, Johannes Kepler University (JKU), Linz, Austria. The exhibition is an initiative of Prof. RA Dr. Willi Bergthaler (Institute for Environmental Law at the JKU) and focuses on contemporary artworks that transform plastic as a material into cultural objects (22 June to 13 July 2021).
ANIFILM 2021 Abstract and Non-narrative Animation programme (in competition). Screenings: North Bohemian Museum, 23, 25 and 27 June; Grand Hotel, Zlatý Lev, 24 June 2021. Liberec, Czech Republic.
Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Animation Festival 2021 Remarkable programme (in competition) (10 to 14 March 2021). Zippy Frames and Joseph Norman selected Flow as a highlight of the festival.
2020
Raveningham Sculpture Trail 2020 Norfolk, experimental animation programme curated by Suzie Hanna for the micro-kino pavilion, which seats 6 people at a time; the programme lasts 15 minutes (1 to 30 August 2020).
Visual Container: One Minute volume 10 artists' moving image programme curated by Kerry Baldry; VisualcontainerTV International Videoart Channel, Milan, Italy (1 August to 10 September 2020). One Minute vol 10 includes the following artists:
Gordon Dawson and Louisa Minkin, Anna Mortimer, Zeljko Vukicevic (Zhel), Eva Rudlinger, Bob Georgeson, Kypros Kyprianou, Katharine Meynell, Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore, Philip Sanderson, Alex Pearl, Gulce Tulcali, Simon Le Ruez, Nick Jordan, Jeremy Gluck, Alessandra Arno, Ruxandra Mitache, Kerry Baldry, Giacomo Infantino and Francesca Ruberto, Yolande Brener and Danielle Imara, Jonathan Onsuwan Johnson, Sam Meech, Sana Ghobbeh, My Name Is Scot, Jacob Cartright, Ellie Kyungram Heo, Paul Tarrago, Martin Pickles, Tony Hill, Michael Szpakowski, Rastko Novakovic, Lynn Loo, Karissa Hahn and Andrew Kim, Stuart Pound, sam renseiw, Caroline Rumley, Sarah Harbridge, Guy Sherwin.
Image: 35mm film still: Chamerion angustifolium, rosebay willowherb or fireweed
Reference: William Richards (1861) A Pocket Dictionary, Welsh-English. Wrexham: Hughes and Sons.