This film, Arkham, is one of the outcomes of an ongoing project exploring fictional landscapes. The work derived inspiration from the visions of such authors as Stanislaw Lem, Jorge Luis Borges, and in particular from H.P. Lovecraft, whose descriptions of otherworldly phenomena in his short story The Colour Out of Space were a key influence. Lovecraft set his story in the fictional land of Arkham, the landscape of which has had a strong visual impact on this work. The alien and supernatural changes which take place in Arkham appear in the film as colour, streaks and shapes on the landscape, produced through experimentation with hand processing super 8 film.
To produce this work I explored real landscapes which echo the strangeness of the fictional worlds produced by these authors, and Arkahm’s footage is a product of these expeditions.
"West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut...It was no longer shining out, it was pouring out; and as the shapeless steam of unplaceable colour left the well it seemed to flow directly into the sky...the column of unknown colour flared suddenly stronger and began to weave itself into fantastic suggestions of shape. in one feverish,kaleidoscopic instant there burst up...a gleamingly eruptive cataclysm of unnatural sparks and substance." - H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour out of Space
I would like to thank No.w.here Lab (no-w-here.org.uk) for their great teaching and facilities during the making of this film. I would also like to thank the talented author and artist Roisin Dunnett for her support and for being a constant inspiration.
