Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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The filmmaker James P. Graham has for some years been
working on the relatively more durable Mediterranean island,
Stromboli, filming its volcanic activity with a circle of twelve
cameras. With these he has created and developed his work
Iddu
(2002-7): a word that means 'him' in Sicilian dialect. With
Iddu
, the viewer is an active participant, enveloped by the 360ยบ
event, only too aware that the natural forces that sustain life on
earth could also destroy it. To the straining ventral harmonies
of Stromboli, Graham reveals the complex relationship on the
volcanic island between the constant sea, the conic fluxing
landmass and the effusive lava that creates it. Rhyming shapes
populate his film: for example, the pyramidal island is echoed in
form by a shower head adapted to drip nectar to gathering bees.
The nectar, shown at the conclusion of the piece, is a metaphor
for the fertility of the emerging lava, while rolling down the
sides of the island fiery lumps of this same lava dance and spin
like a tumbler in a circus.
The global financial crisis of October 2009 prompted Ian
Brown to extend his existing series of prints exploring natural
disasters into volcanic themes. Using his collection of volcano
postcards as a starting point he began a body of work that could
stand as a metaphor for the situation at the time. Referring to
the large scale of his prints, 152 x 107 cm, he has written: 'It is
interesting to note the psychological difference scale makes. The
viewer tends to look
at
prints of a conventional size, standing
outside, looking in, whereas confronted with an image almost
body-size and filling the field of vision, the possibility of enter-
ing and inhabiting it occurs.' Brown noticed a subtle dialogue
James P. Graham,
still from
Iddu
, 2007.
