Description: Filmmaker Tom Hansell collected plastic, sand, and moss from the New River and taped them to clear 16mm film leader in homage to Stan Brakhage’s experimental filmmaking. The soundtrack is a mix of field recordings from the river’s headwaters on Snake Mountain, North Carolina to its mouth in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.
Premiered at the 2021 Athens International Film and Video Festival
Length: 2 minutes, 49 seconds
Description: Plastic bags, fishing lures, and other material from the New River were woven into a scroll that feeds a “cranky” – a shadowbox that is traditionally used to accompany Appalachian ballad singers. The soundtrack is made from underwater field recordings mixed with a fiddle tune by musician Trevor McKenzie.
Community Art Projects
1. Trash Map (2017) Collaboration with curator Mary Anne Redding, community volunteers, and students at Appalachian State University Mixed Media: Metal, plastic, and wood collected from the New River Dimensions: 45 feet long by 25 feet high by 5 feet wide
This image is of a collaborative installation at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, North Carolina. I worked with curator Mary Anne Redding, the New River Conservancy, and students to create this map from trash collected from the New River. This installation demonstrates my ability to collaborate with artists and organizations.Volunteers at collect trash from the New River as part of the process of creating the Trash Map. Photo by Tom Hansell.
2. After CoalPublic Forums (2014) After Coal profiles inspiring individuals who are building a new future in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and South Wales. Coalfield residents share their stories via a documentary film, a series of public forums, and a book. The following images from the public forums illustrate the community engagement process.
Devyn Creech speaks at a youth and economic transition forum in in Harlan County, Kentucky photo by Tom Hansell.Filmmaker Tom Hansell coordinates a community forum in Banwen, Wales. Photo by Suzanne Clouzeau
Works in Progress
Trash Trout Motion Picture show
The Trash Trout Motion Picture Show is a community arts project that supports ongoing efforts to protect the headwaters of the New River. This project will take place in the late spring or early summer of 2022
A curtain made from strips of 16mm film. Moss, sand, plastic salvaged from the river have been taped to the film strips. This mixed media sculpture provides a closer view of the process participants in the workshops will use to make short films from debris collected from the Trash Trout.
Tom Hansell 