‘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. It 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, reimagined as an extension of the body and in performative relationship with the scenes.
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.’
Country of production: Australia and UK
Year of production: 2021-2023
Music: Dan Riley
Editing: Oliver Bancroft
Commissioned by Camden Art Centre, London
Screening dates:
Tamara Henderson, Green in the Grooves, 2021–2023, 16mm film transferred to digital, colour, sound; 26 minutes, 46 seconds
12 September – 3 October 2024
© Tamara Henderson. Courtesy of the Artist, PALAS, Sydney and Sylvia Kouvali, London/Piraeus
About the artist:
Tamara Henderson (b.1982) is an interdisciplinary artist from New Brunswick, Canada, living and working in Canberra, Australia. Her work encompasses film, painting, textile, sculptures in glass, ceramic and bronze, drawing, sound and performance. Recent solo exhibitions include Green in the Grooves, Camden Art Centre, London (2023), where this film was first screened; Of Seasons End, Tate Modern, London (2020); and Womb Life, Rodeo, Piraeus (2019). She has also exhibited at venues including Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Toronto Kunstverein, Toronto, and dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel.
Green in the Grooves is in the St Moritz Art Film Festival, Meanwhile Histories, 12–15 September 2024
