Kinds of White

This film was a commission from composer David Power, who is keen to have a visual representation of his contemporary classical music, and the song gave a name to a series of work I had been developing since 2015, observing the plants which line a frequently used coastal path (see WORKS).

The words to the song, which are by the poet Ana Eulate and translated by Alan Dunnett, leave space for interpretation. To David, they leave space for, and suggest music and he has no further concept than the making of the song, which he recorded with Paul Carey Jones (baritone) and Ian Ryan (piano).

For me, the commission fitted the series I was currently working on, particularly connecting to the phrase, ‘white over, white under’ in both a physical way (in the making of the work) and as metaphor for what is seen or not seen. The film gave me the opportunity to add to my own concept; what is overlooked, the ‘unseen’ in the natural world as we go about our business.

Recorded by Sean Atkinson on location in North East Lincolnshire.