Fall 2024 Showcase Koshenina

Bourn in the Valley is an experimental short documentary that meditates on the transient nature of life. Time unfolds and as my grandmother, great aunt, and father grow old, I watch these videos and see their younger selves move from childhood into adulthood. I weave my personal story with universal truths: seasons change, love ebbs and flows, and life ends and begins.

The film comprises edited archival material captured between approximately 1940 and 1990, primarily filmed by my great-grandfather, Hunter. My family’s narrative is filled with drama, which isn’t overtly depicted in the videos, yet a palpable tension is visible in my family members’ expressions. I embrace the inherent eeriness of the old footage to show this rift between reality and the myth that home videos create. Sounds like birds chirping, clocks ticking, church bells ringing, wind chimes, and rushing water illustrate the passage of time along with the perpetual cycle of life, death, and rebirth. I incorporate poetic elements, both written and narrated by me, to further set the tone. Time is warped using reversed videos and layered elements.

This film serves as a standalone piece that mirrors the personal with the universal. I also envision it projected onto sheer fabric within a larger installation space featuring my cyanotype collages, which also draw from family archives and explore similar themes as the film. These elements combine to create a narrative that is surreal yet familiar, representing personal and collective myths.