The Ground (1993-2001)
By Robert Beavers
The Ground 1993-2001, 35mm, colour, sound, 20’ Cast: Robert Beavers. Filmed in Greece (Island of Hydra). “What lives in the space between the stones, in the space cupped between my hand and my chest? Filmmaker/stonemason. A tower or ruin of rememberance. With each swing of the hammer I cut into the image and the sound rises from the chisel. A rhythm, marked by repetition and animated by variation; strokes of hammer and fist, resounding in dialogue. In this space which the film creates, emptiness gains a conour strong enough for the spectator to see more than the image – a space permitting vision in addition to sight”. (RB). A film such as The Ground (worked on between roughly 1993 and 2001 — Beavers is deliberately circumspect about his dates) is a perfect example. In making a study of the rocky terrain of the island of Hydra, Beavers' editing and use of careful refocusing results in subtle, unforced but highly persuasive visual parallels. Most of his shots are at a straight angle to their subject, but Beavers frequently reframes his images by apparently adjusting his lens or resituating his camera in relation to the subject. So, rather than roving with a mobile camera, or fragm…
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