Veilings (Name him John) 2021 A Film-work, construction and bookwork designed as an intervention into a ritual space for a specific time fame.

Veilings (Name him John) is an exploration of visual experience and word starting with certainty but then facing uncertainty if not confusion. The work was designed for a ritual space that could only be partly entered, either during daylight or at night (covid restrictions on entering enclosed spaces) and so therefore also makes dark and light a significant metaphor.

The Filmwork is a 15 minute artist film in colour that was ‘back projected’ onto a loose muslin screen ( that responded to any breeze) and then on out into the churchyard at night where the viewer had to occupy the space of darkness as well a literal place of death and also the discomfort of winter. The film itself was made up of four unequal sections; 1 Journey, 2 Veiling I - (the hypnagogic experience where the words ‘name him John’ were received and a ‘spell’ of dumbness was cast), 3 Veiling II prophecy, 4 Birth of a child (where the words ‘name him John’ were written down before one could be released from the ‘spell’. The film ends in light. The film also makes use of Palestinian images from a family collection.

The construction of words faces out into the public realm with its form made from branches and cuttings salvaged from the churchyard to reflect John’s own life lived out in marginal spaces of wasteland. The words are not clear at first to all people. This puzzlement is reflected in the film when different spoken languages merge.

The film only received a limited showing due to new local Covid restrictions being imposed.

Frames 1-4 are from the night projected film-work. Frames 7-11 are from the film before projection.Frames 12 - 16 are the construction and painting of the letters of the words. Frames 17-20 are the words in situ.