“Melaleuca Swamp #1” by James Cunningham
Still from video artwork 'Melaleuca Swamp 1'
Title:
- Melaleuca Swamp #1
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Filmmaker, Video Artist, or Animator(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Artist Statement:
Slow movement offers a counterpoint to the rush of contemporary life, a way of being in the present moment which draws attention to the life in and around us: from momentary flickerings to patterns of change that occur on large scales and over long periods of time.
I enact ultra slow quiet walks in different environments, capturing hi-resolution photographs and binaural audio recordings that I later use to make video artworks.
With these works I am exploring presence and the taking of time, using time-based media to extrapolate beauty from the everyday. These are slow artworks that speak to the need for pausing, for lingering awhile, and for awareness of the environment, the present moment, and the worlds within ourselves.
The audio represents the present moment. It places the listener on a slow journey within and through a 3-D environment.
The image represents multiple moments appearing simultaneously. It is a multi-layered trajectory, an abstraction of the pathway walked, an ‘x-ray of time’, an ever-changing ‘painting’.
‘Melaleuca Swamp #1’ is based on a slow walk in a wetland on Minjeeribah (Nth Stradbroke Is.).
