katharine may
artist's statement
“All Along the Watchtower - Passing Long Kesh”
Video by Katharine May
Long Kesh (or the Maze Prison) has been the site of great physical and
psychological trauma over the years of its existence.
The site,
although empty and ghostlike now, still has the exterior trappings of
its function as a place of incarceration.
Memories of visiting the prison were the starting point for making this
video initially. Here there is a desire to self authenticate control,
rather than having control exerted upon the self by any external,
possibly malign, agency. The furtive, unsteady hand-held camera work
could suggest someone filming under-cover. The filming was
actually made during a bus journey from Enniskillen to Belfast, a
journey made almost daily for some years. The ordinary and
everyday becomes extraordinary by virtue of the observation of this now
defunct feature of Northern Ireland’s military industrial
complex.
In contrast to the landscape of fear described visually here is the
soundscape of Jimi Hendrix singing “All Along the
Watchtower”, evoking a sense of liberty and humour. The intention
is to indicate the persistent optimism of the human spirit:
“Optimism of the will, Pessimism of the intellect”*, even
in apparently hopeless predicaments. In a conspiratorial act together
with the viewer, the artist hopes to challenge and overcome the
emotions of fear and grief engendered by such landscapes of despair.
* Antonio Gramsci