Experimental Documentary

Balance (gouache and watercolor pencil on mineral paper)

Today was the first day of class and I very much appreciated the teachers presentation of the history of Experimental Documentary. I recognized a few films and consepts but most information was new.  The texts are inspiring as is the first assignment.  We have been asked to essentially listen to the sound of a plant and tell a short, 30 second subjective story, from the plants point of view, using soundscape.

Initially when I approached this assignment I had an impulse to present something that I have already shot with the camera and build sound around the image, but this does not follow the instruction, which is to listen to the plant and what story is expressing itself.  When I turn my attention to listen to the sounds of plants in my environment I am instantly  orienting differently to the plants around me,  I am physically as well as auditorilay open.  I am using senses beyond the five senses.  It is hard for me to stay in that state for very long.  My mind quickly jumps in to control and make sense of things to validate what it already knows.

The assignment is a wonderful invitation to listen an come into conversation with the natural world around me and experiment with image and sound.

The image above is a large drawing I worked on last month and I think it is complete.

The one at the bottom of this page something I am curently working on, again inspired by the drawings of Hilma af Klint.