A film/video-installation by José Carlos Teixeira in collaboration w/ Sarah FitzSimons | 2019, HD video, color, 13 min
Exhibited at: Gaia Biennial 2019, Hawthorn Contemporary, Milwaukee, An Uncertain Future / Um Incerto Porvir – online screening w/ Brazilian & Portuguese artists (VideoBrasil/Fuso)
42.2ºN, 81.2ºW are the coordinates of Lake Erie’s geographical center, one of the Great Lakes between the United States and Canada. As a dialogue between José and Sarah, unfolding as text atop this inland sea, the short film is a meditation on place, memory, home and belonging, and a wider reflection on our relationship with the natural world.
To create the piece, we projected video of this waterscape and talked about our experiences growing up and living near large bodies of water: Atlantic Ocean and Lake Erie. We recorded and transcribed that performative encounter, then edited our words into the footage as a back-and-forth conversation above and below the horizon line. Water serves both as our essential physical reality, and as a metaphor for the unconscious – charged with emotional, intellectual and psychological significance.
[ This project uses original footage from Teixeira’s “On Exile” (2017-18), and it was initially developed for the 3rd Gaia Biennial, in Portugal (“PARES”, curated by Rui Ferro/Norberto Jorge). ]