My Life, Flashing Before Your Eyes, Once Around the Sun

Robert Studer
2014-2015
Video Installation
22 Minutes Continuous Loop

Leaving our home on the coast of British Columbia in the Winter of 2014, my family and I embarked on a search for a simpler way of life. It was a journey into the unknown, scratching in the corners of curiosity, bearing witness to a broad spectrum of the human experience and one which lead us back to our familiar surroundings 365 days later.

This 22 minute continuous loop video is comprised of 14,000 still images. It documents one year of my life experience in chronological order, along with occasional moments of recall. Streaming at 10 images per second, the work mimics the process and speed of reviewing the cache of images stored on the digital point-&-shoot camera used on the journey. Viewed as mere glimpses, the video is comprised of impressions and snapshots derived from a multitude of moments: random or connected, significant and banal.

Beginning and ending in the same place and season, the video becomes a closed visual and temporal loop when played continuously. From any start point, the viewing experience creates opportunities for narratives to be forged by the memories and imaginings gleaned from personal experiences of those who view the work. Notions of truth, story, bias and belief are blended into one, inviting diverse interpretation of events that actually happened. What is worlds apart for some, may be a return to the familiar for others.

As a born native of Whalley, the debut of this work at the Chuck Bailey Recreational Center symbolically closes a larger experiential loop spanning 52 years.

 

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