Traces (1982)

“Some had given me an iris—a little gadget which opens and closes—they were used a lot in silent movies to indicate the beginning or end of a scene. And that got me thinking about how we actually see, and how, though we barely notice it, every time we blink our own irises close down to black, and then open up again. Black and image. Black and image. I wanted to do something with time…with time as an iris closes and an iris opens. The name Traces refers to the traces we leave in time as, say, we walk across footpath, or traces on buildings, paint peeling off, or windows being dirty and being cleaned again…everything to do with time lagging. To show traces within traces within traces I put irises in many parts of the frame.” (Paul Winkler)