Training Montage

2023

12m 33s

A video about recovery and fear and breathing and landscape and heat and nylon and wool and birdsong and weather and fallen trees and getting back up again and swearing and carrying on and euphoria and possible endorphin addiction and doing your best and actually I think my bum looks pretty good in these leggings and no I’m not self conscious about my belly wobbling and okay of course I am and why’s my elbow itchy and getting those steps in and where are my glasses and lying on the ground in the woods.

Training Montage is a performance video and part of a fitness journey. Performances were enacted at various locations in the Scottish Borders in 2021 and 2022, with audiences including unsuspecting dog walkers, cyclists, farmers, one lost family out for a walk and various sheep. The project started at the installation of I am Tall Meepa, a video installation in Ruberslaw Wild Woods in the Scottish Borders, which was part of the Moving Image Makers Collective project; Conversations with a Forest. Tall Meepa, the artist’s avatar within Final Fantasy XIV ran through the woods and the first performance was recorded here. Over time the workouts track fitness and flexibility, enthusiasm and recovery after contracting Covid-19 partway through sporadic filming. Damaged woodlands and forestry clear-fell and farmland and natural landmarks set the Scottish Borders stage of locations familiar to the artist.

Screenings:
Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival 2023