Production stills image credit: Win GrahamThe artist gratefully acknowledges The Canada Council for the Arts, The City of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Win Graham.

2009, HDV, 51 minutes, looped

The location and subject of this “cine-essay” is the legendary ‘Crossroads’ in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where blues icon Robert Johnson, according to music folklore, made the Faustian choice to ‘sell his soul to the devil’ at midnight, in exchange for extraordinary guitar skills.

Likely, as long as there have been crossed roads, they have been seen as symbols of choice. The famous crossroads in Clarksdale is the intersection of highways 49 and 61. In this work, a steadicam, always in motion, wanders along paths of my own invention in long, uninterrupted point-of-view shots. The suggestion is that of infinite choice, endless possibilities, yet at the same time there is a sinister undercurrent of failure... failure to make a decision, failure to meaningfully move forward, failure to commit. An ongoing duo of movement and stasis.

As cinema-goers are conditioned to expect a cut every few moments, the ongoing shot is uncomfortable, even distressing. Intended to be slightly nauseating to watch for long periods, the video underscores the imperative to make concrete resolutions and points to the unsustainablility of indecision.