Fabric Workshop and Museum : Past Exhibition : Sharon Lockhart : NO

Fabric Workshop and Museum : Past Exhibition : Sharon Lockhart : NO

..."The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is pleased to present this 2003 film by Sharon Lockhart. NO displays the work of a Japanese husband and wife farmer. The static, unchanging frame of Lockhart's camera captures the meticulous and methodical execution of a mundane daily activity. The farmers pile hay, working from background to foreground, then slowly move backwards spreading the hay across the otherwise empty field. What Lockhart has captured on film resembles the construction of a landscape painting in real, linear time. Lockhart suggests a comparison between these farmers' work and the practice of NO-no Ikebana, a radical form of Ikebana flower arranging.

With the same deliberate choreography of her previous films, Lockhart uses the lighting, colors of the landscape, actions of the farmers, and camera angle to investigate the underlying principles and relationships of photography and cinematography."