“Green in the Grooves” by Tamara Henderson
2023 · color · AUS, UK · Folly and music · 27’ · In competition · Swiss premiere
Green in the Grooves speaks to the vital energy that flows through the infinite channels of life, from mossy crevices between stones, to the inner light harnessed in Trataka meditation, Reiki, Kriya and Kundalini—alignment practice that have informed the development of cast of characters. Green in the Grooves takes us on a journey through Henderson’s process, from early experiments with composting to the emergence of the four central archetypes, personified as characters that structure the film: The Director, Light, The Gardener, and Sound. Green in the Grooves is shot on 16mm film using a Bolex H16 as an extension of the body and in performative relationship with the scenes. The soundtrack is composed of film music by Dan Riley and of folly recorded by Henderson and film Editor Oliver Bancroft.
The film charts the formation of sculptures that evolve through glass blowing, ceramic firing, bronze casting and soil formation, harnessing technologies and natural processes that span a vast historical period. Drawing attention to these processes, Green in the Grooves reveals humanity’s involvement in global patterns of decomposition, regeneration and metamorphosis, and how such interactions can accelerate or destabilise natural cycles. In an age saturated by the digital, Henderson’s work brings us back into materials—to the analogue and hand-made, to process and experimentation. Green in
the Grooves focuses our attention on the primordial intersection of life above and beneath the Earth’s surface and brings our senses into contact with a world that is usually hidden: compost soil and earthworm activity—one of the core subjects of the film.
THE DIRECTOR | TAMARA HENDERSON
Born 1982 New Brunswick, Canada Lives and works in Canberra, Australia
Tamara Henderson’s process of creation develops its own mythology that encompasses a vast vocabulary of art and craft practices including film, painting, textile, sculptures in glass, ceramic and bronze, drawing, sound, writing, research and performance. Henderson has undertaken important solo exhibitions throughout the world, most recently including, Green in the Grooves, Camden Art Centre, London (2023); Of Seasons End, Tate Modern, London (2020); Womb Life, Rodeo, Piraeus (2019); Womb Life, Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2018); Seasons End: More Than Suitcases, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2018).
Recent group exhibitions include, Mutual Aid. Art in collaboration with Nature, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (forthcoming 2024), Thin Skin, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2023); Though it’s dark, still I sing, 34th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2021); The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree, Camden Art Centre, London (2020) Tamara Henderson’s works are held in the permanent public collections of Tate Collections, UK; Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Magasin III, Stockholm, Sweden; Walter Phillips Gallery Permanent Collection, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada; and The Hunterian, Glasgow, Scotland. Tamara Henderson is represented by PALAS, Sydney, and Sylvia Kouvali, London/Piraeus.