Drawing upon the radical structure and spirit of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, The Eel’s Tale is a multi-species portrait of the lives found in Kent’s wetlands.
Framed by the migratory story of the European eel in its journey from the Sargasso Sea to the rivers of Kent, a cast of local characters speak of their experiences navigating the landscape, drawing a lyrical connection between human and non-human life. In The Eel’s Tale, we discover how a creature defined by journeys across national borders, changing environments and bodily transformation can redefine how we understand our place in the world. By considering the borders that separate us from each other, the land, and our multispecies kin, the film asks: “Are we free to move?”
Commissioned by Cement Fields and FLAMIN (Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network) as part of The Open Road – a series of new artists moving image works reimagining the age-old tale of a journey taken, weaving together new stories by three contemporary artists. The works are loosely inspired by The Canterbury Tales, drawing from a disparate cast of characters to recount competing stories in a patchwork of styles. David Blandy, Amaal Said, and Sam Williams each draw on storytelling traditions to give fresh perspectives on their journeys, on foot, by sea and through time. The newly commissioned works meander through reflections on migration and belonging, untold histories and non-human connections. A smashed mobile phone decries its extraction, removed, returned and dug out from the earth. A daughter recounts a meandering walk with her mother, connecting with the earth underfoot and a land far away. An eel’s story of migration and transformation weaves through the lives and landscapes of the Kent wetlands.
The Open Road is commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, The Amelia Scott, Cement Fields, FLAMIN, Forma, and Three Rivers. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Sam Williams is an artist with a practice that intertwines moving-image, collage, choreography, sound and writing. His ongoing research focuses on multispecies entanglements, ecological systems, bodies-as-worlds and folk mythologies and how they propose possibilities for present and future ways of non-human-centric living. Sam is based in London where he is a resident at Somerset House Studios. He has presented work at institutions including Chisenhale Gallery, Arnolfini, Siobhan Davies Dance, Somerset House, Tate Britain, Studio Voltaire and South Kiosk (UK), She Will (Norway); Röda Sten Konsthall (SE); Kino Arsenal, Akademie der Kunst, Tanzhalle Wisenberg and B3 Biennale (Germany).
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