Anna Brass is an artist and filmmaker based in London.
Site Design by Adam Shield
anna.brass@hotmail.com
My Secret Routes Through This City - Toledo Extract
2011
26 minute HD videoThe 16th century Queen of Spain, Juana of Castile (Juana La Loca) was declared mad by her husband, her father and her son; she was imprisoned at Tordesillas for fifty five years whilst they ruled in her name.
In relation to this history, My Secret Routes Through This City explores the architecture of the mind. Juana describes a city on a hill: the alcazar and gardens at the top, the streets cut out of the stone, the river at the base of the hill and the subterranean network of labyrinthine rooms and tunnels that run through the rock. The structure of the city is a metaphor for the rhythms and patterns of her anxiety. The film also explores the power that we project onto objects, and the parallels between obsessive compulsive routines and religious rituals.
My Secret Routes Through This City - Tordesillas Extract
2011
26 minute HD videoThe 16th century Queen of Spain, Juana of Castile (Juana La Loca) was declared mad by her husband, her father and her son; she was imprisoned at Tordesillas for fifty five years whilst they ruled in her name.
In relation to this history, My Secret Routes Through This City explores the architecture of the mind. Juana describes a city on a hill: the alcazar and gardens at the top, the streets cut out of the stone, the river at the base of the hill and the subterranean network of labyrinthine rooms and tunnels that run through the rock. The structure of the city is a metaphor for the rhythms and patterns of her anxiety. The film also explores the power that we project onto objects, and the parallels between obsessive compulsive routines and religious rituals.
This is a Story Told of You
21 minute HD video
This is a Story Told of You explores the historical significance of the enclosure acts, which have shaped the landscape and society that we live in now.
The Sixteen Mouths of the Orinoco River
9 minutes 44 seconds HD video
In 1595 Walter Raleigh sailed from England to the Antilles islands, where he captured the Spanish governor Antonio de Berrio, and on to Guyana, where he voyaged up the Orinoco River in search of El Dorado.
Using certain details of this voyage as points of departure, The Sixteen Mouths of the Orinoco River is predominantly about a premonition or anticipation of place. The dissonant rhythms that run through it are drawn from relaxation tapes and history documentaries made for television: the faux-harmony of the tapes, and the clunky dramatisations or reenactments of the documentaries.
Sound recordings are from the Free Sound Project [Freesound, Koops, Erh, Juskiddink, Dobroide, Digifishmusic, Faston, Corsica – S, Reinsamba, Markushablizel] at freesound.org