a river holds a perfect memory
forthcoming (2024) 17minutes 18seconds
16mm, archival, LIDAR
commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella and Touchstones, Rochdale with support from HOME, Manchester
supported using public funding from Arts Council England
a river holds a perfect memory meanders gently across waterways in Jamaica, through leisure activities such as rafting on the Martha Brae River and a night-time boat trip in Falmouth’s bioluminescent Lagoon. In the UK, archival footage tracks industrial impact upon the landscape in Northern England - as water becomes a resource and a reservoir is constructed in Rochdale.
The film considers the interrelation of water, memory and labour and plays with techniques of refusal, errantry and repetition. Through the divergent and overlapping temporalities of working across archival footage, newly shot 16mm and LIDAR scans, the film uses water to track the impact of the industrial revolution and labour migration upon supposedly disparate communities.