Afterimages 3: Lis Rhodes

Synopsis

AFTERIMAGES is a continually-expanding collection of important works by film and video artists, newly remastered and made available on DVD for the first time. The aim is to make important historical works by artists available to students, teachers and researchers interested in film and the visual arts. Each DVD focuses on a particular artist and features several key works.

The third in the series is devoted to the work of Lis Rhodes, who has been at the forefront of British experimental filmmaking since the early 1970s. She studied at the North East London Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. A strong formal aesthetic has been developed in her films, reflecting her involvement with the debates and practice which emerged from the London Filmmakers’ Co-operative, where she was Cinema Curator 1975-6. Early ‘expanded’ works such as LIGHT MUSIC (1975) fused performance and multi-screen projection with an exploration of the visual qualities of sound. Her analysis of broader political and social questions can be traced to her later films, which combine formal rigour with a passionate critique of issues from nuclear power to domestic violence. As an active campaigner for women’s rights, Rhodes was a founder member of Circles, the first women’s artist film and video collective (1979) and was an Arts Advisor to the Greater London Council between 1982 and 1985. She lives and works in London and teaches at Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London. The collection features LIGHT READING (1978), PICTURES ON PINK PAPER (1982) and COLD DRAFT (1988)

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2007

Year of production

1978-1988

Notes

The AFTERIMAGES series is presently only available for purchase by colleges and universities for classroom use, and not by individuals.

Documentation

The LUX Online website (http://www.lux.org.uk/index.html) provides critical writing about the artist’s work, as well as stills, streaming video clips and other contextual resources.

Subjects

Film studies

Keywords

experimental film & video; Rhodes, Lis

Credits

Director

Lis Rhodes

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 1

Price

£80.00

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

83 minutes

Year

2011

Sections

Title

Light Reading

Synopsis

'The bloodstained bed suggests a crime..No answers are given, after the torrrent of words at the beginning of the film, all the film offers are closed images and more questions..Is it even blood on the bed, what fracture is there between seeing and certainty? If there has been a crime, ‘she’ might still be victim..How can a crime of such complexity and continuity be ‘solved’? The voice searches for clues, sifting through them, reading and re-reading until the words and letters loom up nightmarishly, no longer hung on the structure of language.' Felicity Sparrow. 1983 1978, 20 min

Duration

20 mins

Title

Pictures on Pink Paper

Synopsis

'In Lis Rhodes’ closely textured work, pictures and meanings are experimented with, brought richly together or pared down to abstraction in order to challenge and re-create. She shows us how the apparent inevitability of ‘the natural’ and immutability of ‘the normal’ are held neatly in place by those to whom such an order is of advantage. Pictures on Pink Paper is - women talking, thinking aloud and questioning this order; a critique of past experiences and ways of thinking, interwoven with the images and sounds from places remembered. There are numerous threads and layers, of possibilities and contradictions, as the film moves between what is heard and what might be spoken; was known and is now seen.' Circles Distribution Catalogue 1987. 1982, 35 min

Duration

35 mins

Title

Cold Draft

Synopsis

'Shows the surveillance of a woman by overseers who have judged her to be mad. What is most provocative about this film is that it proposes multiple credible points of view even as the woman is being certified insane by the Censors. We voyage into the skull of a woman and peer out to a monumentally static cold waste with planetary slow motion. It is the bunker-eye view.' Sandra Lahire. 1988, 28 min

Duration

28 mins

Distributor

Name

Lux

Email

info@lux.org.uk

Web

https://lux.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

020 31412960

Address

Waterlow Park Centre
Dartmouth Park Hill
London
N19 5JF

Notes

The premier UK source for arts-based moving image materials including experimental film, video art, installation art, performance art, personal documentary, essay films and animation. Incorporates collections previously held by the London Film-makers’ Co-op and London Video Arts. The 4000+ works are available for non-theatric exhibition, some may be purchased on DVD through the online shop, and a selection are streamed for free online viewing.