figuring landscapes

Winter Light Sophia Dahlgren

I attended four of the screenings of a collection of compelling moving image works drawn from the political and cultural history that links the UK and Australia at Tate Modern this weekend. The works in Figuring Landscapes address questions of ecological survival, post industrialism, gender, the touristic gaze, and the social, political and cultural status of indigenous people in a post-colonial society.

Andrew Kotting's Jaunt up the Thames from my old stomping ground of Leigh on Sea to Westminster was a particular favourite, along with Matt Hulse's Sine Die,  Tony Hill's vertigenous  Downside Up, Dryden Goodwin's inspirational Flight, Sofia Dahlgren's mesmerising Winter Light, Emily Richardson's Petrolia, and Margaret Tait's touching Portrait of Ga. 

Devised by Catherine Elwes and Steven Ball, Figuring Landscapes is a riveting and enlightening body of work brought together in a series of screenings over the weekend. I am sorry I can't make it for the final day tomorrow which will be followed by a discussion led by Steven Bode, director of film & video umbrella.