From One to All: Portrait of a River (2015) Online
Inspired by films such as Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka, From One to All is a landscape video that follows a river from a snow-covered mountaintop to the ocean. It follows the course of a day and the course of the seasons, starting at dawn in winter and ending at dusk in autumn. There are no people, no words aside from the opening title, and no narration. It depicts a natural process that has been going on since the dawn of time and will go on long after humans are gone. The only evidence of a human presence is towards the end, when a collection of pylons for a long-disintegrated dock stand silhouetted in the gloom - almost only visible in their reflections in the water - like the ribs of an enormous skeleton. The video is supported by a soundtrack, meticulously composed to sync with the images, that stands outside of most people's bucolic associations to the wilderness. The chants and synthesizers have their place in moments of stillness, but so too do drums and electric guitars when the ...