Milliefiore Clarkes

Media Art Installation for AITO 2023

Millefiore Clarkes

* SONG OF FAREWELL was originally created for an exhibition at The Guild with this town is mall in 2020. This new proposed version will be edited and displayed differently than the first iteration.

I am an award-winning filmmaker based in Prince Edward Island whose work is primarily in the lyrical documentary genre.

I am currently (as many are) deeply concerned about our planet’s ability to sustain biodiverse life for very much longer. The fact that we are indeed at the beginning of the sixth great, global extinction is overwhelming and difficult to compute. I feel that artwork of all genres, moods, styles, materials and mediums are integral to shifting societal consciousness toward acceptance and action. A million tiny hammers against a Goliath of an issue.

I have been creating work that grapples with loss in relation to the climate crisis for a year now, and before that created films based on environmental issues, and the human connection to land and to one another. Some of my most recent works include: SOLASTALGIA, a short lyrical expression of one woman’s sorrow over the climate crisis; and OTHERING, a video poem created with poet Tanya Davis that meditates on humanity’s growing alienation from nature.

For me it is important to present these overly politicized issues in an intimate, philosophical, and non-didactic way. I strive to communicate both an awe-struck celebration of the beauty and cycles of nature, as well as an earnest dialogue about loss, death, and acceptance.

SONG OF FAREWELL deals with the theme of loss and grief in the face of the ecological crisis. It is a video installation that compels the audience to stand face to face with strangers in an intimate space of confession and vulnerability. The aim is to bring out into the light the numerous micro-worries that we sublimate on a daily basis. For example, when I read a children’s story about koalas to my child, I get a sinking sensation and tightening in my chest, and quietly wonder if koalas will exist when he is grown. Many around the world are facing the extreme conditions created by climate change (directly or indirectly): war, drought, diaspora.

PEI’s recent trauma with post-tropical storm Fiona has made the reality of our age palpable on our doorstep. We don’t want to depress others, so we keep these sensations inside. This internalization will only serve to separate us from one another.

These volatile times require that we come together, publicly recognize our fears, and then take action in the face of them.