Sunday, November 11, 2012

Traces: Plankton on the Move


(link above is to low-res version - for High Definition click here)

In the spring of 2012, Elizabeth Harvey presented me with a flat gray video of moving plankton.
The challenge that I undertook was how to bring the movement of the plankton to a place where we could feel the magic of their existence. 

Through changing colors and adding tracks of their movement, I was able to bring a kind of spirituality to this most basic form of life.

Most plankton videos show them as frenetically moving about - but in this case because I added the traces of their movements they look like they are moving more slowly, as we can actually follow the trajectory of their movements.

Music by Jerry Fishenden, composed for this work, adds to the power of the plankton portrait.