Space, the air, the river, the leaf
12 min., HD, color/sound, 2009

Space, the Air, the River, the Leaf is a film about the speed and volatility of water. Commissioned as part of the city of Seattle’s “Water Calling” public art initiative, the film is an impressionistic meditation on the way water radically impacts the landscape of the American Pacific Northwest. In a region, surrounded and shaped by water, a fragile balance must be maintained between human and natural elements, development and sustainability, flow and stem. The title, inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Nature, points to the interconnectedness of all things in our environment: an interactive and transformative experience of everyday space, movement and time.

Using a mixture of interpretive strategies – from documentary observation, expressionistic abstraction, improvisational music, and dance – Space, the Air, the River, the Leaf explores the passage of water as it undergoes a series of natural filtering processes (soil, swales, cascades and gardening). The project was filmed on-location in different areas of Seattle, where efforts have been made to create ecologically-sound and sustainable approaches to water management. Using lush 16mm photography, the film captures the emotive and textural qualities of the Northwest landscape. The materiality of analog film is directly emphasized through a technique where film was buried in the ground for over a year and tangibly “exposed” by the rain, wind, sunlight, and soil.