Channel 1: colour, mono sound, 25:21 Channel 2: colour, no sound, 20:51

These two videos were part of the 1990 installation, The View of the Landscape From Here, which included text heard through headphones, plant material, lights and structures. Images of the installation and the contemporaneous artist statement can be found at: https://elizabethchitty.ca/portfolio/view-landscape-here/

This work is about landscape, technology and magic.

A music soundtrack and in-camera mic audio accompany the images in Channel 1. The diaristic video is divided by monochrome transitions into seasonal sections and the camera action includes stationary shots, handheld shots reflecting bodily motion and shots from a moving vehicle (winter only). The stationary view from the domestic window is a returning motif throughout and the work emphasizes the intensity and energy of nature.
The autumn section is the longest and features handheld shots of walking on the land and in shallow water, sometimes blurring the close-up image through quick bodily motion, then pulling back to glimpses of my young family. Handheld shots of salmon thrashing up the creek are followed by a shot of powerful wind blowing leaves from the trees, then the salmon’s still and moldering bodies.

The silent Channel 2 is of a healing ritual with water, chamomile flowers and gestures shot in slow motion and keyed against background footage of industry and environs shot from a moving vehicle.