The Birth of Medusa

Three stills from "The Birth of Medusa," By me in 2007, Newfoundland

After a mini screening last night, I realized that the more out of control my video footage is, the more they are appreciated. Take this one for example, where thousands of jellyfish are slammed through a channel, it was impossible to control anything with the tide being forced through a canyon like space. Timing was everything. I watched this area of the sea for three days before trying to film it. It still was not enough study. The first camera bounced and broke when a wave double backed just a second after the tossed camera left my hands. It was as if the wave just changed its mind. The second back up camera got sucked into an underwater crevice in the process of making this footage, a dangerous rock face climb between surges and frantic tug on the line freed it from the sea cavern, but within an hour it too was broken. One of those cameras became the reworked camera that I am now using to make a piece about dance, so all was not, and never is completely lost. What was gained was this piece of footage. The jellies become my signature diffusion material. Soft and luminous. Beautiful and seemingly fragile, but in the end they survived while I was down 2 cameras. I realized that that which appears fragile is actually the most resilient.