First light last light.
Multi-discipline artist Oliver Harlan’s 6:56 minute video, First light last light, was created for the exhibition, A Conspicuous Object – The Maitland Hospital.
Oliver Harlan’s First light last light (left) installed in the exhibition. October 2021.
(Clare Hodgins)
“First light last light is a video work about the impact human consciousness has on a place. It is a parallaxing animation made with archival images of Maitland Hospital through various points in time. It is punctuated by new sources of light that I have added to represent timeless human consciousness. It is my view that these moments leave a mark in their wake, that a space so saturated in life and transition must keep a little bit of consciousness for itself in its walls. Still images also hold fragments of life. This artwork involved me pushing against those still images until they came to life through various optical tricks.”
Oliver’s own memories of his time as a patient in the Maitland Hospital are a part of the consciousness embedded in the hospital’s walls and influenced his approach to his artwork. He explains:
When I was fourteen I broke my wrist after tripping over Leo on the school soccer field. I remember he was on my team, but I don’t remember why I tripped over him. Cameron, ever caring, knew how it felt to break a bone and collected my things. Green and pale I carried my wrist at an uncanny angle to the doors of Maitland Hospital. I don’t remember the doors. I do remember the skylights above me as I was wheeled in. I remember the texture of the roof. I remember the boy in the bed next to me was much worse off - a car had hit him. I don’t remember the room. I do remember that Mum slept all night upright in a chair. I felt guilty that she was there and grateful that she did not leave. I don’t remember when the anaesthetic kicked in but my consciousness drifted through the walls and into the lights. We all leave things behind in hospitals.
Still frames from First light last light.
Creating First light last light
Oliver explains:
The images were selected for their depth and then cut into layers in Photoshop. Where the images were cut, digital backgrounds were created and added back in to hide the score lines. The layers were then separated out in 3D digital space.
By moving the layers sympathetically together at different speeds, an illusion of depth and movement was simulated in the still image. In select images I also digitally painted new light sources into the scene and then made them flicker or I turned daytime shots into night by darkening and replaying the sky.
At one point I worked out that about 20 seconds of footage took 2.5 hours to make!
Finally, I created a series of sounds to punctuate and accentuate the images and, in particular, the lights which I knew I wanted to be heard as well as seen. I also brought a small amount of musicality into the soundscape by using a resonator tuned to C major which took found sounds and my own breath and gave them subtle chords. Music is another of my mediums and sprinkling a tiny bit in here was very satisfying.