We sometimes dream a moving dream
Of living simply, fervently, without a word.
—Arthur Rimbaud
The Arc is a collection of unique polaroid prints and experimental films that ritualizes the waxing and waning of summer, and the wild desire to remain in its embrace. It is a project born out of time spent with my family near our historic cabin set deep in the woods of South Carolina, and has continued over a period of six years.
Ark Lodge, our cabin of refuge, is a place where time stands still. While the cabin itself was built over 70 years ago, it rests between two black rivers in a secluded landscape that has managed to escape modernization for centuries. Whenever we arrive, we instantly slow down, breathe deeper and become enveloped into its hauntingly beautiful presence. This is especially so on long summer days when it is unbearably hot, humid and buggy. Somehow we have all learned to quiet our minds and move only in small increments to maintain as much coolness, as we can. Consequently, these slow actions deepen our awareness of our surroundings. We automatically lose our sense of time, and it can sometimes feel as if we are floating in and out of dream world. From dawn to dusk, we live in these nearby waters. We become the water, fluid and tangible–often year round–as summer never really disappears. Many of the trees that witness our presence remember our ancestors. Here, we weave our southern family history into the present to create our own mythology.
The endurance of the project was fueled by the natural tendency of polaroid to evoke a vulnerability relatable both to the human condition and the evolution of memory. Subsequently, conceptual films were added to offer an extension of the experience to the viewer by drawing in on universal archetypes and the fluid, transient nature of life.
