AFW is once again delighted to present a program of contemporary 16mm film work, this time from New York's Negative Land – the artist run lab in Brooklyn. In this program we will dive head long in to the work of two Negative Land experimentalists – Josh Lewis and Ross Mecfessel in a joint retrospective session titled : Versus
Come see some fresh east coast style! All on 16mm.
When: Friday August 23rd, 7.30pm (program run time about 70 mins)
Where: AFW! 2 Kerr St, Fitzroy
Cost: $7 ($5 for AFW members)
Josh Lewis
PILLAGER
2011, 16mm, B&W, optical sound, 3:30 min
Made towards the end of my tenure as a grunt worker in a film processing lab, at a time when I was spending most of my days slacking off down in the lab's sub basement playing with raw film stock and reversal chemicals. This was a fairly disgusting space with dirt floors and four-foot ceilings from which the leaking guts hung down from the operation above, but it was open, and I could stretch out full 100' foot rolls of film from end to end on the floor. From there, I could freely apply developers, bleaches and fixers in whatever ways I could think of, usually mashing in the dust, leaves, and garbage that was kicked up in the process.
FOOTPATH
2016, 16mm, B&W, silent, 4 min
A path cut once by a guy arbitrarily and made inevitable through the weight of feet for years; or, a few thoughts on habits being formed.
CHORUS
2016. 16mm, Color. Silent, 17min.
In any photographic process there are essentially two opposing forces at work: one, the developer, aims to turn silver salts to black; the other, the fixer, wants to dissolve those salts. Normally, these are done in sequence so as to remove any potential ugliness between the two. In Chorus, dry granular forms of both are added to the film stock simultaneously. When water is introduced, each begins a struggle for its intended conclusion. The film bears witness to the conflict, an ecstatic sum of individual grains asserting and succumbing.
AN EMPTY THREAT
2018, 16mm, B&W, optical sound, 8 min.
Sound by Stephen Vitiello ft. percussion by Phillip Patti.
A sequence of truces. A personality test offering mostly slippage.
Ross Meckfessel
FLOWING
“The life of a flower is short
Only bitter things are many”
– Fumiko Hayashi
“If they don't see happiness in the picture at least they'll see the black”
– Chris Marker Sans Soleil
A CENTURY PLANT IN BLOOM
"I remember one day sitting at the pool and suddenly the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Why was I so unhappy? I had success. I had security. But it wasn't enough. I was exploding inside." - Ingrid BergmanA cry for help in the form of a pop song. A village cast as a simulacrum of the past by Oliver Stone and Ridley Scott, Pasolini and Scorsese. As the future starts devouring the present, how can we hope to remember the past? Pics or it never existed.
For Ingrid and Robert
CHERYL
Revolving around found photographs of young women taken by Rodney Alcala, a recently captured serial killer and amateur photographer, and featuring an eclectic soundscape of voice-overs, pop-music instrumentals, and youtube audio clips the film explores the diverse and oppositional forces of feminine identity in pop culture.
UNTITLED(I)
A handmade document of the inevitability of time and the impossibility of returning to nature. The film captures the changing of the seasons obscured by dense superimpositions, emulsion scratches, and residue left by bucket processing.
