Synopsis

All things, oh priests, are on fire… The eye is on fire; forms are on fire; eye-consciousness is on fire; impressions received by the eye are on fire. – Buddha.

A SHORT PASSAGE OF FIRE is an exploration into the process of burning; burning in the physical, spiritual or metaphysical levels. The video examines the process of burning, the slithering motion of the tongues of fire across a myriad of images, licking colour and spirit off the surfaces, in an undeterred, dispassionate movement of progression on many levels/ layers.

It takes a look at the human condition, the predicament of the contemporary society which oscillates between faith and loss of faith, stability and instability. There are no answers given, nor statements, but it throws up questions and doubts, problematising the experiences of a society passing through a period of flux and uncertainty. It observes the process of matter turning into energy, and then into matter again. So, which is ultimate, fire or ash ? What does the fire burn, images? Illusions? Or, does it burn anything at all? Is it internal or external, corporeal or ethereal?

The silence of the protagonist gives no clues to the truth. Is it inertia, or acceptance? Stoicity or morbidity? The dualities are unresolved.

In the end, it is a rite of passage through fire.