Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

Triggered by the memoirs of a medical missionary on the Afghan borderlands, the film is constructed from some remarkable still photographs of colonial life on the North West frontier of British India at the turn of the 20th century. Searching for clues to the realities behind images framed during a time of colonial conflict, the film plays sound against image and finds striking continuities in Western portrayals of a distant place and people.

Miranda Pennell originally trained in contemporary dance and later studied visual anthropology at Goldsmiths University, London. Her recent and current film work explores social performances framed within photographic archives. Much of Pennell`s work before this explored performance in the `real` world through film and video, and centred on a diverse range of human subjects that have included teenage ice-skaters, amateur and professional dancers, fight directors, soldiers and a marching band, and aspiring drummers.