Sophie
Standford
About

A Rural Idyll
In the Forest Garden
Inner Landscapes
Absent Presence
Trace
Work on paper
@hortus_silvam
Trace; hommage to Bonnard

Transience; Nude in an Interior




1998 digital edit 2025
16mm colour and black & white film 
transferred to single channel video
stereo sound
16mm camera: Jesse Chambers
Residence: 10 days
Location: 35 Beulah Hill, London

Resident for 10 days in this empty Victorian house awaiting development at the Spa not far from the site of the Crystal Palace in London. I made a huge crinoline-structured skirt and blindfolded my sight to ensnare my body and hinder my blundering movements as I tried to roam from room to room. I made audio recordings of my presence in the house, the skirts whispering and sussurating against the wooden floors. Jesse Chambers helped to capture my aimless wandering on 16mm film.

the garden is a wilderness reminiscent of sweet smelling fruits and flowers
inside were vast, empty, fin de siècle rooms, echoing
windows stretching to the ceiling
architectural details drably adapted to the demands of modern living
thick dust, thick spider webs clinging to disuse
a vast regal stairwell
numbered doors in the upper rooms
light streaming in and penetrating the dark warren interior
distinct servant quarters listening behind doors
breathlessly up three floors to the roof
an audible voice, listening
© Sophie Standford, 2025
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