And In The Soil, There Be Mirrors (2021)
Single channel film
Exhibition History 2022 B3 Moving Image Bienniale, Frankfurt, DE (film festival); Cube Cinema, Bristol, UK (screening); Zero Carbon, Guildford, UK (screening); Farnham Eco Cinema, Surrey, UK (screening); 2021 and in the soil, there be mirrors, South Kiosk, London, UK (solo)
And In The Soil, There Be Mirrors (Trailer)
And In The Soil, There Be Mirrors is a site-responsive dance film by Hollie Miller and Sam Williams set across a selection of historical locations in the English landscape. The work responds not only to the architecture and former life of these sites but also counteracts a heritage version of the landscape with a Gothic and mythological vision. A series of figures whose traits are drawn from nature and English folklore inhabit the site, possessing a sense of the uncanny and discarding the pastoral, nostalgic images of the countryside that people hold on to. The film is shot across locations including Waverley Abbey, Coalhouse Fort, Epping Forest and Asylum Chapel. It features performers Tom Heyes, Jia-Yu Corti, Andrew Downes, Temitope Ajose Cutting and Karen Callaghan and a musical score by Craig Scott. Supported by Arts Council England, Arts Partnership Surrey and Surrey Hills Arts.
“Shafts of sunlight cut through ruins, catching the surface of bodies whose sinewy, peeling movements lean and ache into space and ground. Incongruous costuming - an armoured glove and a satin dress, a silky worm and a scaly vest - set an unsettling scene. Pairing a brooding sound score with tense, elongated camera, Miller and Williams have created a compelling film that choreographs a strange asynchronous chorus of human and non-human forces.”
Documentation from South Kiosk exhibition, featuring performance reading by Daniela Valz Gen
“Hollie Miller and Sam Williams collaborate to create an intriguing new work with an exceptional cast of performers. Gothic elements, birds of prey, anachronistic costuming, curious moving and disquieting sounds haunt and intervene upon ruins, relationships and a rural idyll. Legacies of British counter-cinema linger and unsettle in this disarming new work.”
Film by Hollie Miller and Sam Williams
Featuring Tom Heyes, Jia-Yu Corti, Andrew Downes, Temitope Ajose Cutting, Karen Callaghan
Music: Craig Scott
Camera: Alexandra Boanta, Hollie Miller and Sam Williams
Costume: Hollie Miller and Sam Williams
Supported by Arts Council England, Arts Partnership Surrey and Surrey Hills Arts. With thanks to Jason Ashcroft (Falconry UK) and Somerset House Studios