Ebb & Flow

 The river is everywhere all at once, at the source and at the mouth, constantly moving, ever changing yet always the same.
 I grew up on the Great South Bay on Long Island. The water was always part of my life. I would watch it change in appearance though the days and seasons, shifting from choppy grey to still, glassy blue, to frozen chalky white. It was a constant, always there.

I now live closer to the Hudson River and  I started photographing it this past month. Each visit evokes a new experience. I have gone to different locations along its bank. I generally prefer the morning when the water is calm and the light is soft. I am interested in showing the river over time but showing it all at once. The two minute video was filmed over an almost two hour time span. It shows the same spot on the river, the same patch of sky, changing with the conditions. The sound of the passing train marks time as it keeps its schedule. The river is oblivious to this; it continues to flow.

HR OSSINING1 from Rita Maas on Vimeo.


In looking at this video I wasn’t sure I liked the abrupt line between the sky and the water. I had a conversation with my advisor recently about Agnes Martin. I had said her canvases (which I love) had no horizon line. She was quick to correct me, saying they had multiple horizons. Of course! I went back to the footage and reworked the editing. Here I spliced together the water and sky with multiple horizon lines. I am not sure it achieves anything the first did not but I do like the duck that comes in around 1:40. In the end I feel it’s a little gimmicky. Nice try.

HR OSSINING2 from Rita Maas on Vimeo.

I have more footage from other locations along the river. This edit is footage from Croton on Hudson and Irvington from two different days. We think of time as linear, one moment following the next. Our concept of time has become some what elastic. The relationship between  past, present and future is something that can be dismantled and reassembled. That is what I am attempting to achieve here in my work on the river. 

HR CROT IRV from Rita Maas on Vimeo.

I am looking at these experiments and wondering if they are achieving what I intend. I am attempting to disrupt a perceived linear experience of time yet I have lined them up…. Need to figure this out. There are a few things I like about it. As much as I would like to believe they are elegant, I can’t help but feel they are rigid and timid.

I have decided to pick up “The Poetics of Space” again. It has been on my reading list for over a year. When I opened it up again I found my bookmark on page 3! Guess I didn’t get past the introduction.