Memories of Chapels, fragments of the past distilled into film, distorted movement, images of time passing.

The Pilgrim's Process: Following Fingerprints.

This new film work follows the ‘Acoustic Fingerprints’ project around chapels in the Teifi valley. The work records the activities undertaken during the visits, as well as the journeys made to the various chapels and takes snapshots of these buildings in their current state. The main camera examines the spaces using formal filming techniques, slow zooms and pans, looking at how light enters, reflects and highlights the details. The sadness associated with the apparent loss of relevance of this tradition to new generations, and the difficulties in maintaining historic buildings faced by dwindling congregations, is countered by the beautiful architecture, craftsmanship and meticulous maintenance evinced therein, making apparent the importance of these buildings within the community past and present.

“God is in the detail”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

So far there is a short film for each site visited. The next stage of this film work is the development of soundtracks for each of the individual chapels. I am very keen to include some historical information and personal stories of the buildings and would very much like to hear from any individuals willing to be interviewed regarding any of chapels in the Teifi Valley. The chapels visited so far are:

Tabernacle (Aberteifi), Bethania (Aberteifi), Capel Mair (Aberteifi), Hen Gapel (Llechryd), Tabernacle (Llechryd), Trewen (Cwm Cou), Bethel (Velindre), Capel Y Graig (Llandyssul), Clos-Y-Graig (Drefelin), Capel Saron, Capel Y Groes (Llanwnen), Capel Alltyblaca, Capel Llwynrhydowen, Capel Cenarth, Gwernllwyn (Penrhiwllan), New Mill, Bryn Salem (Poppit), Capel Soan (Poppit), St John’s Mission (Abercych), Noddfa (Llambed), Pen Y Bont (Llandyssul), Blaenwaun (Llandudoch), Bethsaida (Llandudoch)

Email me: jakewhittaker@hotmail.com

The Pilgrim's Process: Following Fingerprints is supported by Arts Council of Wales.

The Pilgrim’s Process explores the fragile and unstable role of the chapel in the environment and community. The first films were created using found and donated equipment, edited on camera, allowing the faults of the hardware to dictate the look and structure of the work, chapels glimpsed/filmed during everyday journeys around West Wales.
The Pilgrim’s Process began in 2004 using a found analogue camera given by artist Joe Furlong and later processed into black and white through a video processing unit found at a car boot sale in New Quay.

The Pilgrim's Process: Capel Bethania Triptych

 

 

 
The Pilgrim's Process: Capel Bethania

 

 
The Pilgrim's Process: Capel Bryn Salem
This is the first film in the series following Lou Laurens' 'Acoustic Fingerprints' project.
The audio is a recording of Lou Laurens, recorded from outside the chapel and later combined with audio from the camera.