Stupaform (2002)

Shot throughout Asia over a nine-year period, Stupaform gathers into one moment the myriad manifestations of the Buddhist stupa, or pagoda. Stupaform oscillates between the inner and outer aspects of this symbol of transcendence, distilling an essence. The actual structures become electronic phenomena, apparitions of the stupa’s inner form. The sound of a Nepalese bell follows this vector; a physical reflection of an unstruck vibration. "McElwee goes to the essence of this type of building, showing us a glittering, shimmering, dissolving building seemingly woven of golden threads into a fluid temporal matrix. Sound and image are one." Ann-Sargent Wooster, artist, writer; program notes for NAP Biennial