DESERT SONG
Joshua Tree - a meditation
“Located 3h30 from Los Angeles, the Joshua Tree desert is pre-historic site that owes its name to a type of Yucca that only grows in the Mojave desert. This tree, one of the oldest of the world, can live up to a thousand years. Due to global warming, it is estimated that by the end of the 21rst century, the Joshua Tree will be extinct. I have been to Joshua Tree three times: In 2015, I went there to do a 10 days silent retreat. In 2016, I came back to film these endangered trees. In 2018, I did a ritual / performance with Laurence Wasser, where I recorded the desert and he did two improvised music sessions: one at dusk and one at dawn. Taking the Mojave landscape as its main subject, the film is a meditation on our relationship to our natural habitat. “ Jade Smith
Born in Los Angeles in 1985, Jade Smith grew up in France, where she studied Fine arts. After spending several years in Brussels and Berlin doing experimental music, she moved back to California, where she developed a work mixing installation, photography and film. Associating social criticism and a contemplative relationship to the world, she seeks to question our relation to everyday reality in an era of global commodification, taking her theoretical approach through the notions of art in context and psychogeography. Her work have been showed in film festivals, museums and galleries. She currently lives in Portugal.