John

by Thomas Abercromby

Camera, Editor, Colourist and Associate Producer

★★★★
"...this self-aware, thoughtful piece of work feels both fresh and important."
– The Scotsman

Titled in homage to the artist’s father, John is a new commission by Glaswegian artist and curator Thomas Abercromby. Centred around a film installation of the same name, Thomas has collaborated with an all-working-class cast and crew to explore the intricate ties between family, grief and the multifaceted layers of social class. John raises the question: how do we navigate spaces not designed for us?

Trailer for Rocabarraigh as part of the eponymous exhibition at Market Gallery, Glasgow.

Install view of Rocabarraigh film in Rocabarraigh exhibition.

This was my first project with artist and curator Thomas Abercromby, and his first film work. The project was at once a collaborative effort but also a bit of a mentoring process; we shot the film together across a variety of locations in Scotland and I mentored him in some aspects of filmmaking that were new to him, including interview and editing techniques and file management. This worked really well for us as it meant he could do the bulk of the editing himself, and spend as much time as he likes thinking about how he wants to bring the content of the film together, and then near the end of the process we came together to finesse the edit and do the rest, the finishing and captioning. For the exhibition I assisted the Market Gallery team in installing the film, helping to carve the film into the unique aperture it was projected onto.

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Rocabarraigh