JULIA OLDHAM
Julia Oldham, Winter Jungle
Video artist Julia Oldham creates fantastical world by layering, animated sequences, and live action footage; and through this process, she explores the far reaches of outer space, and the deep seas, has dreamlike encounters with animated birds, and coyotes, and finds a potential for romance in the forest
JULIA OLDHAM VIDEOS
FALL OUT DOGS
Fallout Dogs (2019) is a cinematic portrait of Chernobyl guided by the movements and activities of the stray dogs that live in the exclusion zone and the people who take care of them.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster began on April 26, 1986, with an explosion in Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Power Plant. Over 100,000 residents were evacuated on buses and told to leave everything behind. During the ensuing clean up effort, many of the abandoned pets were shot to prevent contamination. Some survived by making their way to the power plant, where workers and resettlers have been caring for them and their descendants ever since.
This video work is about resilience, and while it unfolds from the perspective of dogs, it tells the story of a human catastrophe and the mishandling of its fallout. What we decide we can leave behind is an indicator of our humanity or lack thereof; those who chose to intervene and place themselves in harm’s way are the protagonists. Fallout Dogs gives us the opportunity to meet some of them.
Mud Lair by Julia Oldham and Jenny Kroik
Directed and Performed by Julia Oldham
Animation and Puppets by Jenny Kroik
2013
Spun blind into them dark dark woods
Dug a hole at my feet where I stood
Placed you in there
Touched your gold hair
One last time
Fell asleep underneath a great pine
Had a dream that you still were mine
In the dream we was wild things, we howled
And our bodies was fused as we prowled
I breathed in you breathed out
I breathed out you breathed in
And your fur was my skin
We forgot whatwherewhen
We looked up at the skies
Tasted stars, smelled the moon, felt it rise
And our heart beat so hard that it hurt
Then I woke, saw that big pile of dirt
Now you’re down there
In that mud lair
For all time
When I woke up I ambled away
Left my thoughts of you to stay
There’s a blank space in my mind
Lost treasure none won’t find
Cause you’re down there
In that mud lair
For all time
I breathed in you breathed out
I breathed out you breathed in
And your fur was my skin
We forgot whatwherewhen
But now you’re down there
In that mud lair
For all time
Laika’s Lullaby
In the animated piece Laika’s Lullaby, I work with musician Lindsay Keast to tell the tragic story of the Soviet space dog Laika, who in 1957 became one of the first animals to be launched into space, her small form orbiting the earth for only a few hours before her death. The video chronicles the events of her one way flight.
This video was created for the exhibition Farewell, Brave Voyager at the Portlad ‘Pataphysical Society.