Ashley Govers, Jurjen Versteeg and their independent creative studio From Form have spent the past six years working on a short documentary chronicling the Californian Desert. The documentary Two Deserts promises to explore playfully the relationship between man and nature.
It’s a long time to wait, but six years is not a lot of time. To whet the appetite, the two are exhibiting images from the film in the Hofbogen Creative Hub in Rotterdam. This is, by chance, the same place where From Form started their studio.
The pair explain that Two Deserts, a 25-foot documentary, explores the relationship between man and nature in a playful way. The story is told through a combination of analogue photography and film, stop-motion, paintings, letterpress, scale models, and built sets.
Two Deserts, as a story, is Randall Henderson’s account, editor and publisher of DESERT Magazine. The title is actually a reference from his much-quoted first editorial in which he said that “There Art Two Deserts”, one being a desolate, grim wasteland and the other a real desert with hidden gifts that pass by the superficial observer.
“To combat the stigma of his time, he gave his readers a romanticised version of the desert. “Something he called the true desert.”
Henderson’s son, who was also his hiking partner during the Second World War, died tragically in action. He resigned shortly after from DESERT magazine. However, he continued to explore the deserts and write about them for different publications. Two Deserts focuses on the aftermath of the tragic loss.
Ashley and Jurjen explain that when the death of his son forces him to face the harsh realities, he escapes into the self-created fantasy world he has created. Randall is searching for answers to existential issues in the California desert. Where do imagination and reality meet in this landscape of false perspectives?
The film is still some time away, but the photos displayed at Man Met Brill Koffie give us a good idea of what we can expect. This series was inspired by the vast landscapes of California and its distinct light. It features graphic compositions from Yucca Valley to Twentynine Palms.