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Northern Lights BBC NIReview by: Stephen McKeeFortnight, No. 347 (Feb., 1996), p. 41Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25558762 .
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|^g ARTSBRIEFS |
Confronted on entry by Jill Jennings' collection of mono
chrome prints, consisting of su
per-imposed images of swimmers
against the background of a gal
lery floor and gallery wall, a sense
of disorientation and depiction of dimension within dimension is
profound. The stark nature of
monochrome is tempered by the
fluidity of the swimmers' images contrasted with the angular shots
of gallery features.
Another highlight was Sandra
Johnston's grouping of six black
and white images entitled No Love
Lost. Arguablyjohnston produces the most powerful image of the
show in her close-up of a bite
mark on a female fore-arm. The
indentations are fresh, and some
contain small pools of saliva, con
juring a disturbing image of self
loathing. Anita Rooney's Interactive CD
ROM exhibit adds a multi-media
dimension and allows the viewer
to explore X-ray images of the
spinal column, which when
accessed via the mouse, reveal
abstract images compounded by surreal prose. The prose is exqui site and coupled with the bizarre
images creates undertones of
sexual jealousy and indictments
of male carnal fixation.
Although billed as an amor
phous collection of works, Show
ingOffis underpinned by a distinct sense of repression and depict the artists' struggle against domi
nation, whatever its source may
be.
Many of the artists home in on
their own insecurities and inspect them with candour and no small
degree of introspective talent.
Even if this exhibition was a knee
jerk reaction to Temple Bar Gal
lery's all-male show it has proved itself to be a knee with a rich
creative vein. ^
Stephen McMahon
NORTHERN LIGHTS BBCNI
VJod knows what the good view
ers of Fantasy Football on BBC 2
were expecting when the continu
ity person announced: "Next on
2, new film making from North
ern Ireland. Three short films take
a wry and poignant look at every
day life."
What they got was a strange
brew. A farmer's son engineers a
meet with some American surfers
on a Donegal beach. They offer
the ingenue a Beach Boys tape and a radical surf magazine in
exchange for the beach and he
subsequently becomes obsessed
with the idea of building his own
surf board (Everybody's Gone).
A girl bakes a cake for delivery to
some Grand surrealistic Orange
Lodge who take exception to the
colour green. Along the way she
meets a cornucopia of stereotypes
(The Cake). A Lambeg drummer
uses the wife's Iberian holiday
money to finance the purchase of
a goat that will make a superior skin for his drum (Skin Tight).
The running together of all
three Northern Lights offered
viewers in Northern Ireland the
chance to assess just who the hell
the writers of each short think we
are. We are hesitant, monosyllabic creatures with faulty syntax. We
are a proselytising fire and brim
stone merchant wandering in
front of a bonfire and a lecherous
and drunken bandsman who
doesn't know the right end of a
fag. We are trapped in sides the
minds of writers conditioned by the need to produce characters
that the BBC (who selected the
scripts and co-produced) can un
derstand.
Skin Tight was visually confi
dent and well edited with a snappy
flamenco soundtrack but fell into
the trap of depending on those
sub-Hole-in-the-Wall-Gangprotes tant-catholic interface lines be
loved of Those Who Commission.
For instance, the goat that will
produce the skin for the drum is
off its food: "She's probably on
hunger strike," says the wife. "I
always thotight she looked a bit
Fenian," returns the drummer
husband in his dour northern
tone. And we are meant to laugh or say how wry/poignant.
All three were marred by pho
ney narrative denouements.
There was none of the edgy
experimentalism that you would
expect from short film. They were
all BBC safe. None of the series
was able to match the mesmeric
qualities of He Shoots He Scores,
an Irish short by Clingfilm Pro
^b life v^^^? Isfc H^^I^^H^^^^IMP^^ ^^^^^ttfll^^H^ "" #^^H&
Sq Much I Want To Say, astill from Mona Hatoum's video installation showing as part of Freedom, an Amnesty International Glasgow Group exhibition
running at the Ormeau Baths Gallery from Febuary 7th.
ductions which featured two'boys at a bus stop forced to contem
plate the existence of an alien life
force.
Skin Tight proved itself noth
ing more than a stylish package. The Cake evolved into a meaning
less, annoyingjourney. Everyone's
Gone, the only short that man
aged to sidestep the issue of sec
tarianism (the others stuck the
boot firmly into the belly of per
ceived Protestantism), was filmic
and uplifting even
though it car
ried the message that escape was
the only salvation. Its heart was in
the right place. When it was all over the English
continuity person announced:
"And now the BBC 2 100 series to
mark the centenary of film con
tinues with a powerful story of
growing up in a nation [1960s
China] struggling to find its iden
tity: A Brighter Summer Day. The
bit about a nation struggling to
find its identity seemed particu
larly apt. +
Stephen McKee
FEBRUARY 1996 FORTNIGHT 41
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