This work is an ongoing long term project which began earlier this year on a residency in Iceland. Myself and James Birchall have been collaborating for several years as photographer and sound artist, creating projects examining natural environments, works documenting urban developments and their impact on ecosystems, and sound pieces layering field recordings to create musical structures.
We recently became interested in silence and stillness, and our ability to capture and express these qualities through sound and film. The work is meditative in nature, meriting extended viewing. The challenge is to express this meditative stasis in film, introducing a sense of passing time for the viewer. Although it may seem like a pointless task – the expression of stillness in moving image, and silence in sound – it’s the virtual impossibility of finding absolute results which gives value to the end product. The meditative viewer is rewarded with the gradual revelation of time passing within the apparently still landscape.
Kaktus, Akureyri, Iceland, March 2016