Two Dream Gardens: a screening and talk by Mel Deerson
When:
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Venue:
Birkbeck Central
Two Dream Gardens: a screening and talk by Mel Deerson
Birkbeck Central, Centre for Creative AI
Friday, June 19 • 7 PM - 8:30 PM
In the season of poppies, join Mel Deerson for a talk on poppies and visionary dreaming in Derek Jarman’s work, and a screening of her two short experimental films: The Dream of the Mirror and The Dream of the Empty Garden.
Visionary gardens form a long tradition, from the biblical Song of Solomon, to the medieval hortus conclusus and the Romance of the Rose, to Jarman’s The Garden. The Dream of the Mirror (2025) takes Jarman’s garden as a starting point for a visionary journey through poppies, medieval mystic texts, mirrors and the sea. The Dream of the Empty Garden (2026) is a circling, unsettling, darker vision, filmed entirely at night. What happens when you transplant the mystic garden into an Australian setting, where the artist is from? On stolen land taken by violence and fenced off from its original custodians, the walled garden becomes less of a paradise and more of a prison.
Mel Deerson’s films are shot for close to zero budget on phones and laptop cameras, using primarily DIY, in-camera effects and accompanied by music made by the artist. Created with friends and accompanied by poems, publications, educational programs and talks, Deerson’s films form part of a lo-fi but vibrant creative ecosystem which draws on Derek Jarman’s methods: DIY, improvisation, experimentation, making and sharing with others, and a focus on process. Mel Deerson lives in Australia and is currently completing their PhD at UNSW.
The Dream of the Mirror was commissioned by UNSW Galleries as a contemporary response to the exhibition Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days.
The Dream of the Empty Garden was made with the assistance of the Derek Jarman Lab, and was commissioned by the Monash University Museum of Art for their exhibition Knowing Otherwise.
This project is supported by the University of NSW and an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.
Contact name: Matthew Barrington
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