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The moving-image works, for every sunset we haven’t seen (2018) and for nights bathed in sodium vapour (2019), were shot on Super-8 film and transferred to digital video. With running times of seven minutes and 12 minutes, respectively, they will be projected in a continuous loop onto a curtain to give the illusion of a window. The soundtrack, created with her frequent collaborator Kurtis Denne, matches the style of the imagery with its subjective and sensory impressions.
Trees illuminated by sodium vapour street lamps sway in the wind, patterns of dappled light move across the floor, an unseen motorcycle speeds past: Westman collected the works’ montaged images and sounds on city streets, in parks, on crown lands, and along river banks to reflect inner states. The non-narrative works can be seen as visual and aural tone poems in which Westman speaks of differing stages of loss and mourning. The quietly elegiac for every sunset we haven’t seen was shot at night. It follows the more turbulent imagery and sound of for nights bathed in sodium vapour, shot in daylight and darkness, in a continuous cycle that parallels the workings of grief.
The cucoloris, a special-effects device used in film noir, inspired the images of dappled light in Westman’s films. Two cucolorises, designed by Westman, and two drawings of cucoloris patterns accompany the films in the exhibition.