VALLE MORTIS

A single-channel video presents a slow tempoed, meditative aerial survey of Death Valley’s endorheic Badwater Basin. Scattered human footsteps dance below sea level around the dried ancient lake bed, off-roading vehicle tracks have gradually become part of the landscape and traces of present life mingle with remnants of past life. The delicate tension between natural topographies and human presence linger as we follow the the path of a man-made road. Martian audio data from the NASA Perseverance rover has been synthesized and composed into a deep droning soundscape that vibrates and oscillates, its repetition representing the cyclical nature of humankind’s obsession with a future that is ever bound to the past.

This film is part of the larger series Valle Mortis which is an exploration into the temporal crisis that is our past, present and future as we look to Mars as a speculative counterpart to life on Earth.

Exhibited at Sage Culture gallery in Los Angeles April - June 2023

Video and Sound by Brooke Holm