Sophie
Standford
About

A Rural Idyll
In the Forest Garden
Inner Landscapes
Absent Presence
Trace
Work on paper

@hortus_silvam

In the Forest Garden Selected Works

Antler
Antler is a brief glimpse of an imaginary scene where a woman walks with mysterious purpose, clutching a large, animated deer antler. Despite a moment of tussle the antler is tamed and used in ritual supplication. The plaintive soundtrack accentuates the strangeness of this place.


2019
Single channel 
colour HD video 
stereo sound
Duration: 2.21”
Location: Forest Garden, Suffolk
Antler creates a curious, magical moment of foreboding, evoking an imagined mythology. I perform a freely improvised role to camera in response to the beauty of the found deer antler in the setting of the forest garden. In the process of making this work I started by researching, drawing and writing about the antler, then imagining how it might find its place in the eerie sight and sound of the forest garden at dawn. The dawn chorus was recorded and slowed to emphasise the strangeness of the scene.


the overgrown path
in a magical, dream-like sequence,
a woodland deity defends the wilderness

© Sophie Standford, 2025
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