Gently Brother, Gently Pray (2022)   10 minutes 29 seconds

From magic to religion to science, an empty book spins in space. We drag old wisdom through the new, through the swirling smoke of ages; grinding from mind to mind, vessel to vessel, circling away from the coils of nature and back to know it, one day perhaps, for the first time.

This short film began with some anamorphic footage I recorded at the ossuary in Hythe in 2021 when visiting my friends, Andy, Libby and Tristan Tuohy. The footage stayed 'in the can' for months, though I kept being drawn to it. There was something there I couldn't grasp until I was able to animate an extra rolling motion into it, where upon it began speaking to me. As so often is the case, it found expression through the verses of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and spoke of time's passage, love, futility, transience and ultimately, of humanity. It is yet another piece that describes my relationship with Nature, not as any fragile backdrop to mankind's current abuses, but again as a power, well beyond us - beyond  any individual species - beyond living things and closer to elemental force.

"Man... curious little fellow isn't he. Curious. Beyond. Belief. He still thinks there's a difference between weather and wildlife..."

As the crudely numbered skulls roll past, as if in some dark distorting mirror, detached voices lament our reflection's passage through the ages, from magic ritual, love and hedonism to knowledges and into the arms of science. The course of true love never did run smooth, but if in the end we are just Nature's toys, then, best tread gently.