KiKi Smith, Jewel

This is a 3 minute excerpt from the 62 minute original cinema, Jewel, by Kiki Smith in the year 1997. I was originally searching for a sort of documentary film on Kiki Smith's sculpture, but instead found this cinema that I found to be really engaging. At first glance, the composition seemed to depict bloomed dandy-lions drifting through the air. But as I stayed with the footage longer, I realized I wasn't sure what the drifting forms were, amoeba's of sorts with long thin wrapping tentacles, or jellyfish. The mood comes across as a sort of nostalgia for me and the gentle movement of the forms conveys some kind of peace. Yet the mystery of what the picture is actually abstracted from, remains as an evoking and inquisitive thought that engages the viewer, allowing the seemingly simple composition to not loose its power and sustain its integrity. The colors are greatly contrasted. The pattern of movement and forms establishes unity. The lack of audio seems to actually work for this cinema, rather than lacking sensory stimulus, it serves the piece better than some other examples of silent cinema.