Jayne Parker

The film takes its name from the place where it was filmed, the triforium of London’s Westminster Abbey, a gallery hidden from view for 700 years, that runs sixteen metres high above the floor of the nave. Accompanied by Laurence’s Crane’s music, the film holds the stillness and quietude of the triforium, the accumulation of centuries of ascending prayer.

A short study of the interior of amaryllis flowers, shot on 16mm film. The central pistol, the stamens and the anthers, which produce the yellow pollen, are set against the colour field of the petals.

A short study of the interior of amaryllis flowers, shot on 16mm film. The central pistol, the stamens and the anthers, which produce the yellow pollen, are set against the colour field of the petals.

“The music, ‘Blues in B-flat’ by Volker Heyn, performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, provides the framework for The Oblique. The title comes from an instruction in the score: ‘oblique down stroke’ — a call to the cellist to use an oblique bow. In the film branches of magnolia extend into the empty cavity of the cello, the space where sound resonates.” (JP)

A visual interpretation of Olivier Messiaen’s music for piano. The imagery and music evoke the habitat and song of these nocturnal birds. Filmed in black and white, symbolic of the cycle of life and death, the owl is a harbinger of transformation, mediating between two worlds – the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual. From the terror of night, the forest opens to grassland and we hear in the music, the transcendent song of the lark.

In Stationary Music Jayne Parker finds an external shape for an internal process - Katharina Wolpe playing her father's 1925 Sonata.

In this film, the cellist is both a musician and a protagonist. In the final section he must introduce a second bow to play on the underside of the strings, a strangely intrusive act. The film opens in a music repair shop and we see the interior of a cello - the space where music resonates.

Two contrasting portraits of magnificently strong women: champion body builder Andrulla Blanchette and trapeze artist Vicki Amedume. Strength displayed and strength employed.

Two contrasting portraits of magnificently strong women: champion body builder Andrulla Blanchette and trapeze artist Vicki Amedume. Strength displayed and strength employed.

Composed by John Cage in 1953, and played by Anton Lukoszevieze, there are several versions of this film, each lasting a minute. Despite being played from the same score, the films can appear to sound different - depending on what you see. Exhilarating and surprising, the score for 591/2 seconds for a String Player runs through the gamut of possible ways to produce a sound on a 'cello.

The Reunion brings together dancers Lynn Seymour and Donald MacLeary, partnering each other again, for the first time in over thirty years.The Reunion explores the shifting power relationship between a man and a woman who meet again after a long separation having shared a difficult and troubled past.

Thinking Twice features the pianist Katharina Wolpe playing music composed by her father Stefan Wolpe. Stefan Wolpe’s work is renowned for its originality and rigour, its sense of space and surprise. The unique and vital contribution of this important avant-garde composer continues to influence many young composers of today. The title is taken from a series of lectures given by Stefan Wolpe. In its lucid editing of piano keys in motion, and especially in close up shots of the pianist's hands and face, Jayne Parker "attempts to reflect the rigour of the music" (in her own words).

Thinking Twice features the pianist Katharina Wolpe playing music composed by her father Stefan Wolpe. Stefan Wolpe’s work is renowned for its originality and rigour, its sense of space and surprise. The unique and vital contribution of this important avant-garde composer continues to influence many young composers of today. The title is taken from a series of lectures given by Stefan Wolpe. In its lucid editing of piano keys in motion, and especially in close up shots of the pianist's hands and face, Jayne Parker "attempts to reflect the rigour of the music" (in her own words).

There are four performers in the film - a drummer, a swimmer, an ice skater and a fourth woman. Although the protagonists never appear together they are inextricably bound up by their actions. Meaning is conveyed through movement and its associated sound and the accompaniment of the drummer. The film takes place both above and below water, on ice, and in a room visited by the fourth woman.

Directed by Jayne Parker.

Directed by Jayne Parker.

A woman stands in the deep end of an empty and disused swimming pool. She wipes her face and stomach with her hands to clean away blood. She places her hands on the outstretched arm of a man who lifts her into the air and catches her where she falls. An eel swims, its gills flutter, opening and closing with the sound. The woman settle the eel in her arms and holds it against the body. When she swims she breathes out underwater.

A woman stands in the deep end of an empty and disused swimming pool. She wipes her face and stomach with her hands to clean away blood. She places her hands on the outstretched arm of a man who lifts her into the air and catches her where she falls. An eel swims, its gills flutter, opening and closing with the sound. The woman settle the eel in her arms and holds it against the body. When she swims she breathes out underwater.

A cautionary animated tale in which a woman loses her head to a cat in return for a man. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. This is a rare foray into animation film.

A confrontation/statement with fragments of dialogue between a mother, a daughter and a cameraman.

In 'I Dish' a naked woman dredges in filthy water. What is she looking for? Gold? Something she's lost? She brings up a series of barbaric-looking bits of metal, nasty looking hooks. In a film which has considered notions of nourishment, sex, love, cleanliness, silence, obsession and compulsion, Parker demonstrates her poetic by letting imagery have its mystery, resonate unforcedly on its own terms.

A young woman shakes eels out from between the sheets of a bed. She sews the eels on to a sheet, then cuts them away and they fall to the ground. A dilemma. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. The images in these early films were both literal and metaphoric, depicting exact events but also creating physical and personal associations for the viewer. Ideas are evoked in images rather than words; ordinary actions are also enigmas.

Short film by Jayne Parker.

Early film by Jayne Parker.

A film in three acts, each act prefaced by a short circus act. Act 1 – Cutting liver, Act II – Ironing, Act III – Plucking Eyebrows. Three potentially violent domestic activities performed by a woman. Jayne Parker discovered film as a medium when she was a sculpture student at Canterbury College of Art (1977-80). In early works, objects, performance and gesture were combined by the camera to explore space, duration and the physical body. The images in these early films were both literal and metaphoric, depicting exact events but also creating physical and personal associations for the viewer. Ideas are evoked in images rather than words; ordinary actions are also enigmas.