Bill Viola
Still from Chott el Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat)
Bill Viola
USA
Chott el Djerid (A Portrait in Light and Heat) 1979
video projection (colour, sound) 28 minutes
Photography by Kira Perov
Courtesy of the artist
Chott el Djerid is the name of a vast, dry salt lake in the Tunisian Sahara Desert. Here, the intense heat distorts the light rays so they create the illusion that things are there, when in reality they are not. Trees and sand dunes float off the ground, and mountains and buildings ripple and vibrate.
These desert illusions are set against images of the bleak winter prairies of Illinois and Saskatchewan, Canada. The opposing climatic conditions generate a similar aura of uncertainty, disorientation, and unfamiliarity – causing viewers to re-evaluate their perceptions of reality.