Wilderness Film Studio
Functional Sculptural Objects
2015-2020
Striped Maple C-Stands
Found wood, cold cast aluminum, 3D prints, cinema lamp and digital pigment print
Calibration Set
Found clam-bored sandstone, plywood
Skunk Microphone
Skunk hide and handmade hair wefts, foam, shotgun microphone
Striped Maple Baby Adapters
Found wood, stainless steel, cold cast aluminum, bondo
Stick and Rock Steadicam
Madrone and white oak, stones, sinew, gimbal joint, tripod mount
Seashell Flash Bounces
Seashells, camera flashes and custom mounts
Driftwood Underwater Rig
Found wood, underwater camera case
“The spores of a plant yield a brilliant and momentary flash” -American Photographic Times, 1888
Wilderness Film Studio is a years-long sculpture and research project that reimagines the photographic process by establishing animal and plant materials in critical roles. This series draws on real historical examples, while speculating what might result from technology that is wild and animated, guided by the expansive sensory adaptations of plants and animals.
Film is historically a biological medium; the 19th century camera was considered equivalent to a microscope or x-ray machine. Time-lapse and slow motion were developed to film nature at its own pace, while early photographs were lit by the burning of moss spores. Wilderness Film Studio cross-pollinates film’s biological roots, by embedding animal adaptations into the process of image and sound recording.
In the alternative history of Wilderness Film Studio, multispecies collaboration gives audiences access to the umvelt (“the world as experienced by an organism”) of maple trees, skunks, and jellyfish. Speculating interspecies dialogue, this work presents tools of perception that reorder the hierarchy we place on animal and plant life. This series is equal parts art, research, and experimental engineering.
