My films and installations explore ways in which the projected moving image can describe the nature of memory and daydream.

I am fascinated by the haunting beauty of the projected moving image and see parallels between its transience and delicacy and that of our memories. I enjoy experimenting with fluid, impermanent projection surfaces such as water and glass, which can distort or reflect an image as might our wandering mind.

I am interested in the shifting, anti-linear journeys of trains of thought, and ways in which slow, meditative moving image works can open up space for solitary contemplation. I like to build up layered compositions that echo the collages of memories we behold in our mind’s eye. I am interested in ways a viewer’s thoughts and experiences might add layers to this collage, generating new and ever-changing narratives and associations.

My work explores relationships between the projected image and the surface, space or material onto which or into which it is projected. I like to observe the transformations a fragile beam of light can affect: the way projections can change the feeling, sense of place or perceived dimensions of a space.

I enjoy using 16mm film- often combining filmed footage with digital video or animated drawings and photographs. I also like to create time-lapse sequences using 35mm slide film- projecting the stills then re-capturing and animating them. I am interested in the way an image fades or degrades through this process, as if a veil is placed over the original, or we are seeing it from afar.

I find myself returning to natural forms, land- and seascapes for inspiration. The female face and body are also recurring motifs. I recognise a certain female-ness in my work- in its poetical, feminine iconography, and its non-linear, anti-logical exploration of the fragmented narrative.

Michaela Nettell, November 2007