Almost Out

A short study of the interior of amaryllis flowers, shot on 16mm film. The central pistol, the stamens and the anthers, which produce the yellow pollen, are set against the colour field of the petals.

There are four performers in the film - a drummer, a swimmer, an ice skater and a fourth woman. Although the protagonists never appear together they are inextricably bound up by their actions. Meaning is conveyed through movement and its associated sound and the accompaniment of the drummer. The film takes place both above and below water, on ice, and in a room visited by the fourth woman.

Directed by Jayne Parker.

The film takes its name from the place where it was filmed, the triforium of London’s Westminster Abbey, a gallery hidden from view for 700 years, that runs sixteen metres high above the floor of the nave. Accompanied by Laurence’s Crane’s music, the film holds the stillness and quietude of the triforium, the accumulation of centuries of ascending prayer.

Two contrasting portraits of magnificently strong women: champion body builder Andrulla Blanchette and trapeze artist Vicki Amedume. Strength displayed and strength employed.

“The music, ‘Blues in B-flat’ by Volker Heyn, performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, provides the framework for The Oblique. The title comes from an instruction in the score: ‘oblique down stroke’ — a call to the cellist to use an oblique bow. In the film branches of magnolia extend into the empty cavity of the cello, the space where sound resonates.” (JP)

Thinking Twice features the pianist Katharina Wolpe playing music composed by her father Stefan Wolpe. Stefan Wolpe’s work is renowned for its originality and rigour, its sense of space and surprise. The unique and vital contribution of this important avant-garde composer continues to influence many young composers of today. The title is taken from a series of lectures given by Stefan Wolpe. In its lucid editing of piano keys in motion, and especially in close up shots of the pianist's hands and face, Jayne Parker "attempts to reflect the rigour of the music" (in her own words).

A young woman shakes eels out from between the sheets of a bed. She sews the eels on to a sheet, then cuts them away and they fall to the ground. A dilemma. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. The images in these early films were both literal and metaphoric, depicting exact events but also creating physical and personal associations for the viewer. Ideas are evoked in images rather than words; ordinary actions are also enigmas.

Early film by Jayne Parker.

A film in three acts, each act prefaced by a short circus act. Act 1 – Cutting liver, Act II – Ironing, Act III – Plucking Eyebrows. Three potentially violent domestic activities performed by a woman. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. The images in these early films were both literal and metaphoric, depicting exact events but also creating physical and personal associations for the viewer. Ideas are evoked in images rather than words; ordinary actions are also enigmas.

A short study of the interior of amaryllis flowers, shot on 16mm film. The central pistol, the stamens and the anthers, which produce the yellow pollen, are set against the colour field of the petals.

In Stationary Music Jayne Parker finds an external shape for an internal process - Katharina Wolpe playing her father's 1925 Sonata.

Short film by Jayne Parker.

A woman stands in the deep end of an empty and disused swimming pool. She wipes her face and stomach with her hands to clean away blood. She places her hands on the outstretched arm of a man who lifts her into the air and catches her where she falls. An eel swims, its gills flutter, opening and closing with the sound. The woman settle the eel in her arms and holds it against the body. When she swims she breathes out underwater.

In 'I Dish' a naked woman dredges in filthy water. What is she looking for? Gold? Something she's lost? She brings up a series of barbaric-looking bits of metal, nasty looking hooks. In a film which has considered notions of nourishment, sex, love, cleanliness, silence, obsession and compulsion, Parker demonstrates her poetic by letting imagery have its mystery, resonate unforcedly on its own terms.