"--There are no words really to say what I'm trying to work toward…"
"-- But thoughts."
Grains of Sand began as a series of conversations. I had so many questions for Margot and Barbara and our interviews surprised and moved me.
But I wanted to go beyond words.
How could I engage with their creative, artistic side? I was looking for a sensual element which would capture the atmosphere of the days we spent together. I wanted to find a visual metaphor for the fact that even in the course of our filming, time was passing and we were changing.
I decided to bring two large stones to our first retreat. Barbara was a sculptor and Margot was game to try.
Each day, they sculpted side by side. Their hands became dusty. They would fall into concentrated silence as they hammered, chiseled and scraped, chasing shapes, articulating curves. Their stones slowly changed before our eyes.
Every year we brought out the stones and they continued working on them. Time became embedded in the dust on their work tables, and in the grooves and patterns in the stone. The sculpting became a way of being together.
Watching their stones change and hearing them discuss their visions together gave us a glimpse into their creative connection to their stones, to each other, to themselves.