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"Evensong" is an experimental film in infrared that was produced as part of the musician Alex Etchart's music video and LGBQTIA school education and inclusivity project.
The word “evensong” refers to a church service traditionally held near sunset, focused on singing psalms and canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of Vespers, when all the candles in the church are lit.
I shot some infrared sequences for Alex and turned unused material, and the spoken work dedication into this short, a celebration of hidden and invisible beauty that lives around and inside others. Ultrafast lenses, sunlight, and IR/UV photography techniqes were used to illuminate and explore the structure of wildflowers and plants, under a spectra of light visible to other animals but invisible to humans.
This film is dedicated to the artist and storyteller Coral Mallow and the ongoing movement for LGBTIA rights and visibility in Ireland, with special mention of Dublin Pride and Dublin Trans and Intersex Pride, as well as Neuropride Ireland for their work supporting the cause of neurodivergent people.
https://www.instagram.com/dublinpride/?hl=en
https://linktr.ee/dublinpride
https://www.instagram.com/transpridedublin/?hl=en
https://linktr.ee/transpridedub
https://www.instagram.com/neuroprideireland/?hl=en
https://linktr.ee/neuroprideireland
As a cis-het person, making this film, which has taken several months, is my small act of service and solidarity. By witnessing sacredness in the strange and beautiful rather than fear, we can change our story about what it means to be human. The things we do are our commitments, and who we become.
The people I showed up for in filming and in the subsequent recording, and editing process are people for whom I maintain a recognition of the sacredness of their personhood, and the unfolding of difference in ideas and people, cultures and stories, and that all that is beautiful is not good, but all that is good is beautiful.
Nature is not a monoculture. Our ideas of what makes a good person can’t be either.
This film was shot on a Canon FL F1.2 on a full-spectrum modified Nikon Z6. Special thanks to Alex Etchart, Nikolas Moldenhaur from The Media Division, and Philip Reinking for being incredibly generous with knowledge and advice while we were working on Alex's music video. I learnt a lot from the above people and I am very grateful
This film, to me, forms a triptych with Alex Etchart's "Johnny Barnes" project to support self-acceptance, dialogue, and tolerance amongst children and teenagers around topics of difference, gender, and sexuality. The other aspect of the tryptich is queer actor Amelia Armande's amazing retelling of the story of the first non-binary deity Asu-Shu-Namir.
You can find Alex here https://alexetchart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/alexetchart/
"Johnny Barnes" a queer reinvention of a traditional irish folk song is in UK schools now and will be released later in the year.
Amelia's work is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-nJtGoG0bY
https://www.instagram.com/theydyamelia/
You can follow Coral on https://www.instagram.com/coralmallow/?hl=en