NO HEATHENS

No Heathens is a one-and-a-half minute film resulting from camera tests carried out in January 2023. The pictures were captured on thirty metres of Kodak 250D film in 16mm format with a Kiev 16U camera.

Christian iconography and its changes over the ages inspired the subjects featured in this work. The different versions of the Agnus Dei by Francisco de Zurbaran (1598 - 1664) featured in the editing reflect the idea of experimentation, graphic study and reproduction of a single subject until a definitive and convincing result is achieved. The blue fabric behind the lamb isolates the animal, and refers to the blue screens used in the production of digital special effects. The installation refers to the concept of a standardised modification of images, showing here the raw origin before the first treatment.

Next comes the book of icons, featuring works by painter Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464). A black-and-white shot captures the originally coloured paintings, which were themselves printed on paper, contrasting all formats : painting with film, large format with medium format, still with movement, colour with black-and-white. The aim of this effect is to question the idea of reproducing other people's work without a close analysis, and misquoting images without attribution. A form of modern appropriation of iconography in general, more consumed than embraced.

The soundtrack is a recording of improvisations on the organ of Saint-Quentin in Tournai, made in February 2022.

The camera tests were carried out in Brabant-Wallon with the help of Maxime Dumont.