| Watermark Commissioned
by Dance Theatre of Ireland in 2005, the videos that make up this body
of work attempt to explore the theme of water as a physical, powerful
and affecting element.
This was my first collaboration outside of the realm of the visual arts, but there is a close relationship between this work and my individual work. During this project I worked closely with curators Robert Connor & Loretta Yurick and allowed the concept of my work to develop and evolve naturally over time with the choreography. The resulting video consisted of a variety of imagery and subtle movements, to create cyclical patterns and repetitious, even uncanny movements. In this series, the rhythm and cyclical patterns of nature are juxtaposed against the qualities of new technologies, including morphing techniques, layering of video and seamless loops, in an attempt to find a balance and harmony between these apparently contradicting elements. In the "Fallen" section of Watermark, I previously filmed the dancers as elegantly contorted figures in a similarly abstract landscape, on rocks by the sea. This video relates directly to the perpetual falling action happening within the choreography. The slow-fading figures appear and disappear on screen as they are in the constant state of falling on stage. Instead this fallen state is portrayed, with the same dancers, in a different location, at a different time within the video. The "Morphing Waves" section uses a digital morphing technique to emulate the movement of waves through an inorganic, computer-generated method, while still retaining the feeling of an organic flowing motion. Images of flowing clouds, light reflected on water, images of hurricane Katrina and rushing water all made their way into the final edits. This selection of imagery, all derived from the organic, ranged from the whimsical to the dark and introspective, sometimes reflecting and complimenting what was happening onstage and other times contradicting or acting as a bridge between segments of choreography. In addition to acting as Digital Scenography for Watermark, some of the segments have since been exhibited as stand-alone video artworks. www.dancetheatreireland.com |