The door of my apartment is plum colored. In the early morning the windows are mostly covered, with small gaps in between the shades. Around 5 a.m some engines can be heard outside—these ones mostly whirring and grunting— predating most of the silently gliding machines that will arrive later. On the bottom left side of the door, spilling over onto the side of the frame, a rectangle of light has entered through the opening in the curtains. The light contacts the door and is made to be a shade of pink by meeting the layers of paint.
The silhouette of various plants are projected into the zone of light. Rose thorns, White yarrow flowers and Bi-linear Sword fern limbs bending in the wind. The shadows cast by the plants’ forms suggest a set for a silent movie made in the 1920s..The film strips that make up this movie have been exposed to a small amount of light sometime during the development process.
Exposing undeveloped film to light can damage the image contained on it. This condition would make it seem like the images were fading and then reappearing over time, making light and shadow move around the visual field. At certain times during the movie, a scene that was well lit is covered in shadows and a scene occurring at night frays at its edges due to the light captured by the error. I’m watching the vegetation sway and get pushed over by the wind. The individual plants are coming in and out of focus depending on how much the wind wants to move them away from the light. My eyes aren’t focused yet.
In the movie there is a scene taking place at a graveyard in the vault of night, on the left there is an oak tree next to a white headstone carrying a heavy stone cross, there are other stones too with carved names and dates. In the center of the frame is a white path that curves to the left that leads into a cluster of trees. The veil of silent darkness is held back by a lantern and a dim bulb. Instead of the scene being contained in an entirely dark rectangle, light ebbs at the corners, moving in and out. This, among other events, portrays an anodyne quality in the film.
I’m trying to get the faded vignettes out of my mind, The empty ballroom and the industrial buildings on the edge of town, surrounded by forest, are still superimposed on my vision. The numb images are making me uneasy. In my dream last night it is early evening, there is a sweet smell in the air, the sky is still light, and the setting sun is a glowing orange. I see a wooden veranda standing among a field of grasses. A rose bush has grown out of its basket and its rows of thorns coil around the wooden grid. I walk towards it and as I am passing under it I feel like I’m being lightly pricked by all of the thorns of the flowers, even though I haven’t touched any of them.
