Our Machine
"Our Machine"
by Ashley Chambers + Nora Hughes
Accompanying screenshots by MaEvE + CollEEn
with 𝓌𝑒𝒷 𝒹𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓁𝑜𝓅𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 by Sharon Din
Ashley Chambers and Nora Hughes met for the first time on February 3, 2021 in Whatcom County, Washington. They went for an evening stroll through an industrial marina and discovered a large machine. This machine was illuminated so sublimely against the dark as if to beckon them upon it, and the two soon discovered that it would offer further instruction. “Our Machine i-iii” represent the first chapters of an ongoing process of discovery and documentation.
Credits
Starring Ashley Chambers and Nora Hughes
Video-editing by Ashley Chambers
Title cards by Nora Hughes
Audio by Nora Hughes and Casey Proctor
and with special thanks to Bill Simpkins at Alpenglow Studios
This project was made possible by the All American Marine Pandemic Relief for the Arts, of which Chambers and Hughes were selected residents from February-June 2021.
Artist Bios
Ashley Chambers is a writer, artist, theologian, and educator currently living in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a Master of Sacred Theology and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama. Her book, The Exquisite Buoyancies, was published this year by New Michigan Press at the University of Arizona. She is currently working on her first full-length film, M0, a theo-erotic venture in resurrecting her late cat. You can learn more at ashleyelizabethchambers.com.
Nora Hughes is an artist and educator living on the unceded land of the Laq'temish (Lummi) Nation and the Nuxwsa'7aq (Nooksack) tribe. Hughes’ art practice encompasses social mediation, music, performance and traditional approaches, synthesizing these with an emphasis on reverence for our natural world.
Casey Proctor is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer and producer currently living in Carrboro, NC. Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest, she trained as a classical pianist from age 5 then moved into various genre modes during her college years. Her ventures include ‘Rosehips,’ a psych-folk dream-pop duo with Nora Hughes that pulls small pieces from old timey country and 70’s drone, and ‘Haruspex Palace,’ a solo project in which she plays, records, and produces each genre-coalescing song to her vision. As a session musician, Proctor’s playing can be heard on Holy Sons latest release ‘Raw and Disfigured’ on Thrill Jockey Records. She is currently working on new records, as well as collaborating with performance artists and filmmakers on scores and soundtracks for upcoming releases.
Also Featuring:
Angels: The Mysterious Messengers
Real Life Encounters with Heavenly Beings
Time-Life Video, 1994
As Tears Go By
Wong Kar Wai, 1988
Lost in Translation (Bill Murray's alarm clock) Sophia Coppola, 2003
