Moving Image Work
62 min. - HD Video, Super 8mm Film, 35mm Film, 120 Film, Instant Film
Desolation Slow is both a visual tone poem and social inquiry, bringing moving image art, lo-fi aesthetics, and documentary forms together in a mesmeric cinematic collision. Filmed on location in rural Utah and Salt Lake City, the film reflects on homelessness, geography, and abandonment, while pondering connections between human and structural decay. Desolation Slow is also steeped in stories recounting decades of homelessness through the voice and figure of Joe Ortega, a formerly homeless resident who’s now successfully off the streets. The film's sonic pallet is complemented with a musical score composed by Chicago avant-guitarist, Billy T. (Bill Tucker), creating a dynamic counterpart to its visual preoccupations. Documenting life on the edge of society, Desolation Slow, poetically questions the status quo while affirming that homelessness is not inevitable.