Distant Polyethylene Star: Hector Laidlaw, Fine Art

Against a field of stars, we see a short film by Hector Laidlaw, graduating from DJCAD’s Fine Art course.

The artist tells The Jute Journal that the 11-minute film mixes ‘disparate imagery,’ combining footage from digital video and VHS.

Titled Distant Polyethylene Star, it explores grief and the performative use of grief in rituals such as funerals, while also experimenting with the medium. An alien in the film announces:

‘Your tears are about to be recycled.’

Intercut with footage of the Heaven’s Gate UFO cult and 1950s Tupperware advertisements, Laidlaw mixes various realities in the film, which follows the character Francis trying to escape from a cult in another dimension that tries to recycle his tears from his grief over the death of his cousin.

Aspects of the film are present physically, making liberal use of duct tape, masking tape, and Sellotape over lithography and monoprints for a ‘cut-and-paste aesthetic’ that situates viewers in a melancholic emotional landscape.

Asked if there were specific inspirations for the film, the artist tells TJJ that they include Werner Herzog‘s documentaries, experimental film by Charles Pinion, and the late David Lynch, who is an ‘unignorable influence.’ The accompanying dissertation presents new research into experimental filmmaking.

Laidlaw concludes saying:

‘I hope that when people come to see [the film], it grabs them; that they find something in it for them that’s important.’

You can check out Hector Laidlaw’s work @eye_of_dog on Instagram.