Georgie Friedman’s Snow Study II (Blizzard), will be exhibited in the Freedman Foyer Gallery at Albright College in Reading, PA from October 5 – December 5, 2021.
Snow Study II (Blizzard)
B&W, HD video
15:34 minutes, continuous loop (silent)
2013
stills | video excerpt
This exhibit has an accompanying brochure with a essay written by Honor R. Wilkinson, M. St., University of Oxford. Guest Curator, Albright College.
“Snow Study II (Blizzard)” is one of three silent videos Georgie Friedman has created of snowstorms at night. She films the storms so their city context is not evident, foregrounding the minimalist, drawing-like elements of white dots, lines, and shifting forms in the black of night. She captures the impactful and complex forces of wind through the subtle dancing, fast streaming, delicate floating, and intense swirling movements of snow sweeping across the screen. The interconnectivity of these elements becomes clear: the wind animates the snow, and the snow reveals the invisible structure of the wind. Friedman’s thoughtful observation of a blizzard emphasizes the grace of a meteorological phenomenon, inviting viewers to a new visualization of a largely familiar experience and an appreciation of the natural beauty of the wind and snow’s properties and forms.
Interdisciplinary artist Georgie Friedman creates people-centered stories and observational studies that investigate environmental subjects ranging from ice melt, hurricanes, and the water cycle, to tides, storms, and cloud formations. Friedman utilizes photography, video, and site-specific installations to examine the natural phenomena that act upon humanity and in which humanity exists. As she explains, through her practice she began “contemplating our general fragility, physically and psychologically, in relation to these immense atmospheric and oceanic phenomena.” In the case of Georgie Friedman: Snow Study II (2013) however, her thoughtful observation of a blizzard emphasizes the grace of a meteorological phenomenon, directing the viewers in a new visualization of a largely familiar experience and an appreciation of the natural beauty of the wind and the snow’s properties. Georgie Friedman: Snow Study II is one of three silent videos the artist created utilizing focused lighting to capture the impactful and complex, but invisible forces of wind through the subtle dancing, fast streaming, delicate floating, and intense swirling movements of snow sweeping across the screen. While a viewer’s association with a winter blizzard may be the tactile or emotional experience – cold temperatures and blowing wind, damp clothing, tense bodies, and the inconvenience of the storm itself – Friedman’s video prioritizes sight as the sensory lens.
