The Limits of Vision (Excerpt) by Laura Harrison. 2020, U.S., 3 min. Housewife Marcia is coming unstuck amidst shifting gender norms in South London, 1974.

Laura Harrison’s animations have received acclaim at various film festivals and even earned her qualification for an Academy Award. Her in-development feature film, The Limits of Vision, is inspired in part by the backlash to second-wave white feminism after the 2016 U.S. election, as well as the Robert Irwin novel by the same title.

Tell us more about what inspired your piece.

“The film explores language, narrative and the breakdown of literary and filmic space, second-wave feminism, painting, slippage, whiteness and the value of hidden labor. I had already been working on the piece before the 2016 election, because I loved the insane writing of the author Robert Irwin (whose book I secured permission to adapt). I was interested in Irwin’s life and cultural boundary crossing (a current no-no); he converted to Sufism in the late sixties after living in a mosque in Mostaganem, Algeria for two years off and on, and was a house husband in the early ‘70s while his wife worked in parliament. I loved the visual potential of the novel, which features hallucinations of imaginary characters Marcia meets in her waging of war against dust.”

How has the COVID-19 crisis influenced you as an artist?

“I think the current crisis only underscores our cultural inability to cope with finitude, and our essential isolation in the face of it. This film covers a lot of territory that just happens to coincide with the pandemic. It does bring into question the relevance of my work while essential workers are risking their lives. But on a positive note, it makes me have resolve to make my film as generous as possible.” 

What are you watching right now?

“Right now, I’m watching great anime films, Paprika, Skycrawlers, and Variety, the original Andromeda Strain and Last Man on Earth.”

LAURA HARRISON lives and works in Chicago. Her animations focus on marginalized, social outcasts with their own sub cultures. These fringe characters provide a focal point for her concerns with diaspora, trans humanism, gender and the loss of touch in an overwhelmingly visual world. Her films have shown at various festivals internationally including The New York Film Festival, Ottowa International Animation Festival, Animafest Zagreb, LA Film Festival, The Chicago Underground Film Festival, Kerry Film Festival, Japan Media Arts Festival, Boston International Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, GLAS, Melbourne International Animation Festival and many others.

This work was presented as part of SHORTS FROM UNDERGROUND, a weekly curated series that highlights boundary-pushing filmmakers from around the world.