Walter / Leaves, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: continuous loop / SD / colour
Reflections of moving leaves are projected onto Walter’s face through a glass window. This effect is not a digital manipulation; it is a truthful depiction of a simple reflection. Walter, a 97 year old man is in a state of sleep/awakening. It was in a fleeting instant that I caught this image, as I was about to enter Walter’s house. Often one does not see what is in front of them; at other times we seize the moment.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Brigitte Dajzcer, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
“Walter’s stillness is in contrast with the balletic grace of the wind-tossed leaves. This juxtaposition gives added dimension to Safdie’s portrait-of-the-moment. The timing of the man’s breath, the passing of his life, occurs at a regular pace in small measured moments, unlike the random waves of the leaves.In this work, Safdie brings the viewer to an intimate engagement with another person’s perception, appropriately glimpsed through the veil of nature’s passing.”
* Stuart Reid, from the essay “Time’s Betrayal: On Walter/Leaves”, Catalogue: “Sylvia Safdie, the Inventories of Invention” 2003, pg. 53
Gulls, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: continuous loop / SD / colour
Hovering time is resonant in this short video, which focuses attention on the flight of a gull across the screen.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Marielle Quesney, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
Water Over Stone, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: continuous loop / SD / colour
Repeated movements of water moving over a stone in Lake Memphremagog in the Eastern Townships. By viewing the movement of water at varying speeds we are able to observe the organic transformation that is actually occurring.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Marielle Quesney, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
While gazing at the currents in Lake Memphremagog, without realizing it, I became captivated by the flow of water over a stone. It was a windy afternoon and the water kept gushing in rhythms of swirls as it intervened with the stone, or was it the stone that intervened with the flow of water… However it was the stone that I identified with – my body became the stone and I was enveloped by its folds, wrinkles, and ripples. When I became conscious of the experience I ran to get my video camera.
Owls Head, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: continuous loop / SD / colour
Transformation of water, light and haze on an early fall morning on Lake Memphremagog, Eastern Townships, Québec.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Marielle Quesney, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
Ben, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: 4:27 minutes / SD / colour
A portrait of choreographer Benjamin Harkarvy is superimposed with the rhythmic flow of water.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Brigitte Dajczer, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
Providence Island, 2002 (excerpt)
Running time: continuous loop / SD / colour
A still frame of a moving landscape becomes a meditation on transformation both actual and perceptual.
This footage was filmed on an early Fall morning on Lake Memphremagog, Eastern Townships, Québec.
Camera: Sylvia Safdie
Editing: Adad Hannah, Sylvia Safdie
Audio: Silent
