Benthic Salvage Triptych (2023)

16mm film, animated lumen prints, and waterborne debris. Color, 3 minutes.

This three-channel video installation is created from material salvaged from the headwaters of the New River in the Appalachian Mountains. It provides an example of how the artist incorporates found materials in his work. The left channel presents debris from the river taped to 16mm motion picture film, the center channel features trash placed on a traditional Appalachian cranky, and the right channel was created by animating lumen prints made from material gathered from the river in collaboration with photographer Joshua White. The soundtrack includes fiddle by Trevor McKenzie.

Moab Waste Stream (2023)

Digital Video + 8mm and 16mm film. Color, 8 minutes.

Each year, more than three million people pass through the small town of Moab, Utah on their way to the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. But what do they leave behind? During the 2023 Moab Arts Reuse Residency, filmmaker Tom Hansell collaborated with local residents and waste disposal professionals to visualize the impacts of the tourist economy. This one minute excerpt provides an example of how the filmmaker approaches a collaborative multi-voice project as an artist in residence.

The Trash Trout Motion Picture Show (2022)

16mm film. Color, 10 minutes.

This sample provides a glimpse into director Tom Hansell’s process working with community collaborators. Volunteers cleaned trash from the river then taped the trash to 16mm film. Tom Hansell worked with musician Trevor McKenzie and dancer Julie Shepherd-Powell to create a live soundtrack for the film, combining traditional and experimental art forms to create new meaning. The sample starts with a site-specific performance at the 2022 Boonerang Festival, then moves to a staged performance for the Dance-a-lorus program of the 2022 Cucalorus Film Festival.

Lumen Prints (2019)

Lumen Prints are a type of cameraless photography like a photogram. To make these images I first submerged photographic paper in river water. Next, I placed organic and manmade materials from the river on the photographic paper and exposed the image in direct sunlight. Finally, these images are digitally animated and mixed with natural sounds to create a film.