Freshwater Brook was an important water source that flowed across Kuowa’qamikt (the Halifax Peninsula) until the late Victorian era, when it was buried underground. Absent Currents is an immersive video installation that reconstructs this phantom landmark by shaping archival text into experimental film.
Absent Currents reconstructs Freshwater Brook from the faint traces of it that remain in provincial and municipal archives. What does it mean to lose a body of water, and in what ways are we still navigating the landscapes we’ve cast off?
Text excerpted from historic sources is combined with contemporary footage from the brook’s path. This video was transferred to 16mm film and processed with a homemade developer made from native plants that would have grown along the brook. The film was then decayed with a boiling–freezing process, evoking spring melt.
The scanned film is projected onto fabric natural-dyed with oak, sumac, alder, and iron collected from along the path of the brook.
An accompanying self-guided walking-tour, created in collaboration with historian Jonathan Fowler, encourages visitors to consider the path of the brook as they navigate the city.
