Unnamed Collective — Heather Lyon & Juliette Sutherland — Echo
Reviewed by Chenoa Baker

An underwater scene occurs with the floating movement of a person wearing a metallic face and body covering. This aluminum-like covering obscures their identity but captures the reflection of one of the main characters of the video: the sun. Sun rays draw attention to the small particles dancing around the person as they float and swim. The other protagonist is the water. Its buoyancy dictates the movement of the work. The last scene is the body doing the deadman’s float being backlit by the sun at the surface of the water. It felt whimsical.

This dovetails into Heather Lyon’s interest in the significance of materials and relationships to the human body and Juliette Sutherland’s formal background in documentary film and anthropology. They both mine the cavern of emotional depth through experiences like loss and isolation. Echo feels like an offshoot of Sutherland’s project Greet The Ocean. This project records stories of local community members that takes place in, around, or influenced by the frigid water of the ocean in Maine’s winter. The ethereal display does not have a clear message and the audience wonders what the metallic covering of the human body means in the waves.