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Dialogue with my Father: the piano
single channel colour 16:9 HD video | 7’20” | sound
When does holding on to transitional objects of grief become self-destructive? The heavy bulk of a neglected, domestic, upright piano is pushed around on a concrete floor trying in vain to find the right place, before letting go. Frustration strips the piano of its dignity. Braced, it fights back stoically, belligerent, vibrating a dance to its raucous rumbling. Dainty wheels twist in agony under its defiant weight, before drawing you into a mesmerising journey which gives voice to the piano’s final involuntary creaks and resonances.
2026 screened at In Proximity, Group Show, Norwich Museum and Art Gallery
2025 screened at DIVFUSE Film Archive No.1 with a theme on domesticity, London
handwritten music manuscript fragments, printed annotated notes, graphite, ink, gouache, photographs, paper, 21x30cm
Dialogue with my Father: silence
reel to reel audio tape, glass jar with lid
Symphony No.1; The Seasons by Patric Standford, completed in 1972, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Elgar Howarth, later broadcast on the BBC.
| 1. | Now He is Gone 07:21 |
The heavy bulk of my father’s now neglected, domestic, upright piano performs through reluctant, involuntary creeks and resonances.
© Sophie Standford, 2022
Sound and Moving Image Collection, British Library
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