Strand by Minny Lee (updated version, January 2016)
Strand is an extension of my ongoing series of self-portraiture. This series began using still photography and now continues into video work. The word Strand has two dictionary meanings: a thread (yarn) and the land bordering a body of water. Scenes of knitting a lengthening thread symbolizes the passage of time and also symbolizes longing and waiting. The video is divided between interior spaces of the Halsnøy Kloster and exterior spaces of the nearby town and the surroundings of the Kloster. By placing myself in these different locations, I am traveling between past and present and between dream and reality; while history and memory shape one side of my experience, existing cultures that live on today shape the other. The 850-year-old monastery and the strong tradition of knitting in Norway inspired me to make this work.
