Yard a 16mm film loop
04.02.00 - 27.02.00
Sarah Dobai
A sudden, luminous deluge occupies Yard, a downpour that is insistent, even hectic - a heavy curtain of water which deposits a great volume into the space in a matter of minutes and then stops. The 5 minute film records the duration of an apparent rainstorm in a courtyard at night. Though peripheral activity occurs within the frame; a figure passing through the yard, a door opening and closing, the rainstorm is the event, the drama and the story of the film.
The veil of glistening water occupies the space like a character on stage formed by the three walls of the courtyard. As we become familiar with the scene, it becomes apparent that this is in fact an impersonation of rain. The water flows from the top of the frame in a two dimensional screen across the foreground of the image. There is no attempt to disguise the fact that this rainstorm is a stage-managed phenomena. In this act of imitation Yard refers to the literary and filmic illusions which such a rainstorm can conjure up; an image of melancholy, melodrama or waste.
Sarah Dobai’s recent exhibitions include; a project for the Hayward Gallery’s Turnaround Programme, Sightings, ICA, London, Another Girl Another Planet, Lawrence Rubin Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, Biennale de l’image, Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris and an forthcoming solo show at Centro de Fotografia Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. This is the first showing of her new work Yard.
For more information please contact Sheila Lawson on 0171 375 2973.
The gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday 12-6pm, or by appointment.
Thanks to: all at Occupation Studios, Ben Fox and Angel Films, Chelsea College of Art Research Fund, Arnaud Desjardin, Steve Guest, Lucy Hays, Insight Lighting, Mark Jones, Kodak UK, Simon Morrissey, Mark Puffet and Aim Image, Todd A O, Barney Snow, Keith Tunny and Sarah Weatherall.
