artist statement
I consider film as being a place of intersections, where the story of the present collapses into a moment of action, light and presence.
For me, filmmaking is essentially performative and experiential. We may be in one place, watching and waiting, but time is always moving, tracked by the ticking of the clockwork motor on my clockwork wind-up Bolex camera. I observe the comings and goings of the world through my tiny lens, always looking for ways to embody site as material reality (processing with seaweed, tinting with lichen) and return life to the film image. I celebrate process, welcoming small remnants from the experience of filmmaking in place to remain as artefacts, such as sand, hairs and dust. Past in the present, contained in film. Marks of my personal presence are also retained in the physical film, taking an artisanal ‘hands on’ approach to film creation and development, contrary to the ‘hands-off’ nature and speed of digital image capture. Projection, whether analogue or live digital visuals, are also an integral part of this, keeping a sense of my personal presence within the artwork.
Analogue clockwork filmmaking requires choices to be made in the moment, creating a heightened sense of presence, as in the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and Tacita Dean. I am intrigued by the experiences common to the filmmaker and the viewer and how these can be brought more closely together; the way in which we experience our presence in the moment through stillness or action within and across the frames.
My approach is influenced by my experience in performance art and the aleotoric and improvisatory music of John Cage, David Tudor, Charles Mingus and Albert Ayler, where the moment is a place to play, confound and confront preconceptions and presumptions. Outcomes are open, the final form of the work evolves through the process of its making. I like to share my work and in different contexts, such as projected performance visuals, site specific film installation or cinema. I welcome collaboration with other creative practitioners and specialists from other fields, such as astronomers and archaeologists, and am influenced by the integral extended research processes of Goat Island, Forced Entertainment and others. My current interests are in the enormity and small details of astrophysics, land and sea environments, and how the micro and the macro are reflected in each other.
biography
Joanna is a film artist who explores the experience of being in a location at a particular time through the medium of film. Bringing her experience of musical improvisation into her practice, Joanna opens her work up to chance through hand processing and the use of organic materials, to create short film-poems that reverberate between abstraction and control. She represents place through a layering of approaches to materiality: analogue film responds to the light in that place and time, physical outcomes are often charged with atmosphere from the site through use of materials of the locality, such as seawater for processing and wild berries for tinting the film.
Joanna has a PhD in music and visual performance from Dartington College of Arts. She has worked as a part time lecturer on creative media courses at University of Plymouth and Dartington, and as tutor supporting students with specific learning difficulties. Joanna co-founded the Cornwall-based Cinestar artist film group, which provides opportunities for moving image artists to make and show work, and curates the St Ives Jazz Club programme.
To find out more about Joanna's creative producer/director work please visit the Mayes Creative website.
Joanna has a PhD in music and visual performance from Dartington College of Arts. She has worked as a part time lecturer on creative media courses at University of Plymouth and Dartington, and as tutor supporting students with specific learning difficulties. Joanna co-founded the Cornwall-based Cinestar artist film group, which provides opportunities for moving image artists to make and show work, and curates the St Ives Jazz Club programme.
To find out more about Joanna's creative producer/director work please visit the Mayes Creative website.
artist talk - april 2023
12.30-2pm (screening at 1pm followed by artist talk)
Borlaise Smart Room, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives
FREE
Borlaise Smart Room, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives
FREE
Short film screening and artist talk, including 2 short films inspired by music of piano player and composer Bruno Heinen.
An informal film screening and artist talk, taking the opportunity of Bruno Heinen's visit to St Ives to play at the Jazz Club that evening, to share the collaboration between Bruno's music and my 16mm analogue filmmaking, using expired film and alternative processing. I will also be talking about my Filming and Foraging project and sharing some of my plant based analogue film processing techniques.
Films created with 16mm wind up Bolex camera, some hand processed with caffenol and digitally reversed. Shown digitally.
An informal film screening and artist talk, taking the opportunity of Bruno Heinen's visit to St Ives to play at the Jazz Club that evening, to share the collaboration between Bruno's music and my 16mm analogue filmmaking, using expired film and alternative processing. I will also be talking about my Filming and Foraging project and sharing some of my plant based analogue film processing techniques.
Films created with 16mm wind up Bolex camera, some hand processed with caffenol and digitally reversed. Shown digitally.