nature morte (video, running time 9,20, 2006)
Nature Morte (2006)
Images originally compiled as a printed work for Damp, Nature Morte evolved into a three channel time based work that,
like the printed version, is arranged into three chapters.


The paired subjects reflect momentary encounters that are complicated or broadened through textual reflections.
Fiona photographed the flora and fauna 'in the field' of the unceded ancestral and current homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Primarily shot in the area of East Vancouver in and around the False Creek Flats as contemporary still life, this area has been infilled, the original east end of the creek turned to a lifeless tarmac that was eventually 'renovated' to house the skytrain station and eductional institutions.
The images are RAW: they have not been altered in any way and outdoor natural light was used. Because of the technique, they might be presumed to have been shot in a studio situation.
"... Each chapter is a reenactment of three peculiar experiences I had during one afternoon/evening."
All three encounters lingered with the artist long after they had occurred. "In each instance, I became
transfixed by a minute detail of a natural phenomenon that instantly conjured an association for me in the socio/political realm"...
"The manner in which I felt these fleeting associations struck a nerve and
instantaneous associations in a manner that vastly intensified the experience at hand. It felt as if time stopped."
The ensuing narrative relays undercurrents that permeate the artists lived experience.
"...when I was producing this work for Damp, I was struck that the simple act of cropping
seemed to the alter facial expression of the subject, therefore I became interested in using
various croppings in a single time based work, frustrating the medium by using still shots,
while at the same time producing an experience that unfolds over time. This work heavily influenced
the way I would finally execute the temporal flow of Flow (2009-present)."






all rights reserved/copyright fiona bowie 2023
This work was created in K'emk'emeláy (colonially known as Vancouver BC.),with gratitude
and acknowledgement of our host's nationhood; of their unceded, ancestral and current territories:
the Musqueam, Squamish, and Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.