Bennu

Description:

Judi Norris’s single-channel video Bennu is named after the ancient Egyptian deity associated with creation and rebirth. In this work, Norris draws on the bird-like figure of Bennu to explore the human desire for spiritual transformation and fulfillment. Employing computer graphics and editing software to merge animation with live-action footage, Norris constructs a mythological space where interior emotional landscapes and external reality is experienced between architecture, the natural environment, and dream states. Throughout the video, a lone subject played by Benjamin Wolfe moves through the streets of Vancouver and a parallel animated realm, blurring the boundaries between the real and the imagined. 

Bennu debuted at a screening event on April 18, 1987 by the Western Front Video Collective. 

Produced by Elizabeth Vander Zaag, with sound by Doug Brown, music by Benjamin Wolfe and Judi Norris, and animation support by Bob Richardson. 

Video documentation is available upon request.