White Wind

This is a site-responsive installation made during my Gullkistan residency, Iceland. Polythene was tied to a metal frame (washing line support) and lifted by the constant winds, at times gently floating to the horizontal, at times forcefully expelled as if gushing from vents, linking with the Fontana, the local hot springs. The video suggests a narrative linked to magic and folklore, starting with fluttering, like wings unfolding, stretching, a birth, followed by long arms summoning, trance like, calling forth the full force of the wind, then the gorgon's head, hair whipping like writhing snakes or like horses tails flicking this way and that, then the rear view, a portal, sun lighting up the polythene like flames, an eternal fire, then the close up, flames and shadows, light and dark, playing out the world of magic. The work links to a long tradition of literature and to Icelandic magic, believed to be ever present in the landscape with stories of elves and giants, trolls and treasure. This work also relates to polythene caught on fencing around the farmhouse such that the farmer and his family stopped to see what was going on.