B&W film. 2'20" Loop.

 

In the Spring of 2023, Cornwall based artist Marie Claire Hamon exhibited a solo show in the Borlase Smart Room at the Porthmeor Studios in St Ives.

‘All Life Comes From The Mountain‘ was a body of work made following a 2 year residency at the Treveglos studio in Zennor. The work was a response to the rich ecology, history and culture of the place.

 

At the tail end of the previous year Marie Claire asked me if I could make a sound recording of the rocking of a Logan Rock which can be found at the top of Zennor Hill. She was hoping the recording would suggest the heartbeat of this hill, and could be played alongside her paintings in the Borlase Smart Room, many of which referred to this iconic landscape feature.

 

Capturing this sound proved to be no simple matter. Firstly were only the few windless days we could manage to meet at the high exposed site. To rock the stone required a great deal of energy and the momentum could only be sustained for a very short time so the recordings of a steady beat were just a few seconds long. Also my sensitive recording device picked up the sound of granite crystals being crunched as the stone moved back and forwards. This eclipsed the base sound of the massive Logan Stone rocking on the granite boulder below. So when I played back the sound files at home, unfortunately there was little useable material.

 

However, while we were at the site, I also shot a few short pieces of video with my iPhone. Although, surprisingly, the sound was actually cleaner than with the professional recording device, I didn’t feel it was strong enough to stand alone. So I produced this short film, to be looped. Unfortunately for various reasons it didn’t work in the space, so was not included in the show.

 

 

Logan stones often called logging stones are a natural phenomena which have become so finely balanced that it takes very little effort to move them. These were formed through natural causes such as glacial movement and erosion. Although not rare they are becoming increasingly so through the action of man and continued natural erosion. Cornwall has or had a number of these stones, some which fortunately still rock and others which have done so until more recent times.

https://www.cornwallheritage.com

 

 

https://www.marieclairehamon.com