The recent heatwave in the UK was a sure sign of climate change. Artists must take opportunities to draw attention to such events. The movement is minimal but surprisingly active.
Heatwave II is slow and meditative, with a sudden surprise! Viewed in full screen, you will witness the delicate channelling of the pigment along the streams of water, created by the melting ice. The River Severn is my muse. It boasts one of the highest tide levels in the world and a spectacular bore wave, highest at Spring and Autumn equinoxes. If you see it performing, you will notice how the tidal river flows in both directions at once. The sea pushes upriver, the river continues to journey towards the open sea. The melting ice does the same - grains of pigment are washed across the frame, and some turn and go the other way. Like a microcosm of the Severn. Like arteries and veins.
Composer Andrew Heath agreed to provide a soundtrack that responds to the meditative nature of the footage. We have worked together on films before – “As Above, So Below” was shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (TBWDP) in 2020 and “Bev D” was screened at Stroud Valley Artspace(SVA) in Stroud in a curated exhibition.
My Heatwave films offer different understandings of climate change. While ice caps melt, sea levels rise, this work draws attention to other living creatures that are becoming increasingly desperate for water. As seen in the film, stay with it. Higher res version available.