LandxSea Monthly: A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things
One day in 1949, a young Scottish painter climbed a Swiss glacier. The experience rewired her brain, and transformed her art. She spent the rest of her life painting it. Award-winning, Edinburgh-based filmmaker Mark Cousins immerses the audience in this life-changing encounter between the glacier and the unusual brain of a 20th century Scottish woman, the artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. The encounter took place on 29th May 1949. The woman was 36 years old; the glacier was 25,000 years old. She was advancing; it was retreating. Barns-Graham was synaesthetic – associating letters, names and people with particular colours – and Cousins explores how her neurodiversity and her encounter with the glacier shaped her vision of the world. Featuring Cousins' long-time collaborator Tilda Swinton as the voice of Wilhelmina, this feature documentary tells the story of a remarkable artist and a magnificent obsession. Born and raised in St Andrews, Barns-Graham was a member of the St Ives group of modernist artists, who lived in the Cornish seaside town from the Second World War onwards. The glacier paintings inspired by her experience in Switzerland were the breakthrough in her artistic career. Through a cinematic immersion into her art and life, the film explores themes of gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the nature of creativity from youth to old age. Made with the support of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, the film delves into her archives, private notebooks and diaries from her 65-year career. Two decades after her death in 2004, the film represents a major reassessment of Barns-Graham’s life and work, and her place in 20th century art. Winner of the Grand Prix Crystal Globe prize at Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2024 “A rapturous, intensely personal study” - Peter Bradshaw | The Guardian “Moving, infectiously obsessive” - Guy Lodge | Variety “A passionate and lyrical tribute” - Tom Dawson | Total FilmDocumentaryPT1H29MPG2025-07-28Tilda Swinton
Mark Cousins
LandxSea Monthly: A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things"LandxSea Monthly: A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things"Showtimes
July 28, 7:30 pm
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