SHARON LOCKHART - LUNCH BREAK / EXIT

Artist and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart (b. 1964) is known for creating meditative films and photographs that frame moments of everyday life while exploring the subtle relationships between the two mediums. Her latest films look at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. However, Lockhart remains a better portraitist and formalist than an analyst or polemicist, if even she focuses on the present labour situation in the USA. Lunch Break shows workers during their midday break, engaged in a wide range of activities while having their meal. This film is notable for Lockhart’s decision to set the camera in motion, something she has not done before, and for the soundtrack she devised together with Becky Allen and James Benning. The single tracking shot moves slowly along the corridor of the factory; a brief interval in the workday is contained in a sustained gaze; industrial sounds, music and voices are intertwined. Exit recalls Lumiere’s film; from a fixed camera position Lockhart depicts La sortie de l’usine. Each take starts with a title card stating the day of the week, and proceeds to emphasize repetition and differences in the daily routine.

Lunch Break
2008, 35mm film transferred to HD, 83’, colour, sound.
Exit
2008, 35mm film transferred to HD, 41’, colour, sound.