Bridget Smith: Field Recordings

Weather Report is an ever-expanding sculpture that documents the changing seasons with their fluctuating weather and light. The work takes the form of a disk that has been woven from freshwater bulrushes over two distinct periods of time, separated by almost three years.

The rushes, cut from the riverbank and exposed to the elements to dry out, range in colour from light ochre to vivid green blue according to the effects of changing weather and the passing of time. As the woven bulrush ages, it gradually fades towards soft golden brown, more prominent at the work’s centre where the material was harvested in the summer of 2019. In this way Weather Report continues to document its own exposure to light, paralleling the light sensitive nature of photographic material.

Double Moon is a 13:30 minute film of a moon rising over the sea in the evening sky, its reflection briefly mirrored in a rock pool below. Time slows as the waves roll in and out with a consistent rhythm and the light from the moon quivers, suspended on the surface of the water. Over the duration of the film, we observe the changing relationship between the two moons, the land, sea and sky during the transition from twilight to complete darkness, until all that remains is a central, mesmeric dance of circular light. Accompanying the film is a sound score of layered musical drones made in collaboration between the artist, the composer Laurence Crane and Barney Snow.