I am a Canadian based in London, UK. I studied history and philosophy before moving to Europe and training in Photography and Film/Video in London.

The way I very often choose to work is best described as "expressionist documentary." Stories and explorations of real things, real places, reinterpreted through an expressionistic, subjective and wholly immersed direct experience. Darkly poetic explorations of places, influenced by Gaston Bachelard, Henri Lefebvre, Thomas deQuincey ...

Philosophically I'm influenced by Raoul Vaneigem.

My filmic influences include all forms of expressionism, as well as the surrealist visions of Jan Svankmajer, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Peter Greenaway, Guy Maddin. I also love the works of Agnes Varda, Tarkovsky, Carol Reed ...

The deep role of time and change is the basic subject matter for all of my work. I'm interested in the “reintegration of fragments” or what Anselm Kiefer has described as “bringing together what has come apart.”

I am interested in revealing images which are very strong; that offer a glimpse of past worlds and indistinct realities; where the boundaries between fiction and documentary blur, and memories take on a life of their own.

(PORTRAIT BY SANDRINE ALBERT)

FB: facebook.com/pages/Gillian-McIver/117458454955279

* The work here on this Vimeo page is my own personal artistic work, not commercial or broadcast work.