FURTHERANCE - video work by Leonora Hamill
Stills from the 'filming of' video of Furtherance (2014), a video work by Lenora Hamill. Filmed in St. Eustache Church in Paris with a trained stag. I came across these clips firstly on Instagram, and had to search to find out what project they were from. Even then, I can't find the original video work, only this behind the scenes. However, I still find this imagery incredibly evocative and beautiful.
The context of this video, however, is constructed. This is a trained deer and the filming was intentional and professional for Hamill's fine art practice. Therefore, the tone of this video is contextually very different from the previous one - filmed unprofessionally and unexpectedly of a wild deer. The stag in this film becomes intentionally symbolic, whereas the doe in the last feels unintentionally symbolic. This video has an intended meaning, whereas the previous has an accidental/lateral meaning (or, perhaps, was meaningless? It becomes absurd?).
This work also reminded me of Giorgio Andreotta Calò’s film Nebula (2024)
I saw this work in Venice at the exhibition of the same name and also found the imagery highly evocative.
- meaning/absurdity
- constructed/accidental
- artificial/organic
