Water, Wind, & the Record of the Rocks

Water and wind are friction forces that continuously erode and shape landscapes, and the record of their effects is left behind on Earth’s terrain. As Laurie travels to the Monahans Sandhills in West Texas, a tornado threatens and leaves her vulnerable in a place with limited refuge, but she finds a modest motel made of cinderblock to wait out the storm. Desert images are contrasted with images of rain falling on roofs adjacent to the Electron Movers studio at 128 N. Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island, filmed from the safety of a venerable brick structure that has withstood the assaults of time and weather. Laurie’s running internal dialogue, a continuous “crawl” along the bottom of the screen, mimics commercial television’s weather alerts and suggests how the effects of daily experience shape our emotions from moment to moment, also imprinting a lasting record in us both physically and psychically.