Currents of Sable Island with Scott MacMillan, Jill MacLean, Damian Lidgard

On Saturday eve, 21 March, I spent the evening at the Peggy Corkum Music Room in Halifax; a small cosy recording studio that would probably seat 50 people.

Scott MacMillan, a local composer, had spent the day recording a piece of music that he wrote while visiting Sable Island in August 2007, called ‘Currents of Sable Island’. The music is composed to the words of a poem written by Jill MacLean in 2003, ‘Sable Island 44ºN 60ºW‘.

Jill MacLean reads her poem, Sable Island 44ºN 60ºW, to the audience with the musicians in the background.

So why was I there? Scott had invited me to create an interpretation of the music and poem through my images of Sable Island, and display those images on screen during the live performance played to an audience.

I had a lot of fun bringing the images together and intepreting the music and words of the piece. In all, 94 images played to the music for ~23 minutes. I felt like I was on a journey to the island, quite powerful.

Scott MacMillan (off ctr) makes the last few adjustments before the piece 'Currents of Sable Island' is performed. — Scott MacMillan (ctr) makes the last few adjustments before the piece ‘Currents of Sable Island’ is performed.

The evening was a great success for everyone. I really enjoyed being able to bring my images alive with music and words. Wonderful.