Passage (2007)
Building on the concerns of the photo-based Light series and the video Friday Morning, Passage evokes several layers of time and place through video imagery and sound. Separate yet connected narratives unfold: Present-day footage follows richly coloured light and shadow patterns appearing inside and outside my house throughout the course of the day, from the cool blue-purples of morning light to the warm oranges of early evening. Meanwhile, black and white archival footage provides fleeting glimpses of Jewish life during the early part of the last century – everyday life in pre-World War 2 Eastern Europe, and the immigration of some to ghettoized urban life in North America. Amongst these fragments of an earlier era we recognize women at market, hands sewing, immigrants disembarking from a ship, street scenes. At the same time, the accompanying soundscape situates us simultaneously in the past and present, in domestic and public spaces. The rhythm of my family’s daily activities and interactions unfolds through sound, while the passage of time through the day is tracked from the song of birds at dawn to the late night chirping of crickets. A past era is made more immediate through the sounds of horse-drawn wagons, marching troops, spoken Yiddish and traditional melodies. The fleeting immateriality of the video finds material embodiment in the nine sequential stills printed from Passage, each an intersection of coexistent narratives.