Fieldwork II (Chernobyl) 2009
Single channel video projection. Colour, silent. Duration: 100 minutes.
In February 2009 I travelled to Chernobyl, the first of two visits. It was in the middle of winter, there was heavy snow, and I was the only visitor that day. Driving in, a long row of abandoned houses stood on ground still contaminated by radiation. Further along the road the more toxic houses were shrouded in a thick layer of clay. I recorded with a small, low-res Sony handheld out the window of the taxi as we sped along. Slowed down in the edit suite, to the point almost of disintegration, this material became a 100-minute tracking shot. The images that resulted from the technical constraints of the camera meshed with the metaphor of Chernobyl in what seemed to be an apt and poetic way.
Fieldwork II (Chernobyl) was first exhibited as a video installation at Stills Gallery, Sydney, in August 2009. It was awarded a Special Commendation at the 2010 Hobart Art Prize.
TOXIC BLOOMS 