Project 3: Space and Time

Glorious and Sunny Views Through Twisted Trees and Turtles in Hell

When classes were announced to be cancelled, my older brother and I drove for eighteen hours down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the ocean, and to connect with my family that were already down there. I saw this as an opportunity to do something spontaneous and fun. And it was a great opportunity to film from a unique location and under circumstances inaccessible in London. We were staying in Carrabelle Florida, a very small town, and one day we stopped at a wood carver’s roadside shop and he told us about the legend of Tate’s hell, and the boardwalk five miles deep in the swamp. It seemed like we had been driving forever, we almost turned around until we saw a clearing at the end of the dirt road. It was truly a kind of place I had never seen before and I decided to get some footage while I was there. The legend itself is about a farmer whose live stalk were being killed by panthers, so he decided to go hunt the panthers. He got lost in the swamp for a week and died as soon as he made his way out. “Tate’s Hell” is an oral legend, every version of the story is different, the events that transpire in the swamp are always changing, but the ending is always the same. I thought making the “time” assignment based on this place with this oral legend attached to it would be interesting as the legend from the 1800s maintains its status as a local narrative. The time of filming makes it appear timeless, as the sun shines for most of the day. This legend is a connection between the earth and the people that attempt to control the lands they live on. The swamp has been left undeveloped save for the road that leads to the boardwalk.
My project is about time, nature and humanity. I used layering in this video as a representation of time and the duality between nature and humanity.

I decided to record myself reading a version of the “Tate’s hell” legend as a major component of the audio. I definitely wanted to include the actual story in my video, but it wouldn’t have made sense to have it appear as text, as an oral legend I had to be delivered orally. I left my voice unaltered to make this portion of the audio as raw as possible next to the drone of the orchestra tuning over the whole video. The tuning orchestra communicates the beginning of a story.

On this page you will find a link to my video and part of the artist statement, to see brainstorming, research and images, see the "Research Page" on the right.