Collaboration: Terry Flaxton Al Lethbridge

Terry Flaxton & Al Lethbridge
I have worked with Al Lethbridge since the mid-90's on a series of projects with from drama to documentary to art. Below are pieces from the different works we've created.

Forever 18 minutes 30 seconds, 2003

I had always like Clifford Simak's short story The Way Station - so I adapted it and set it in Somerset. Originally this was set in America.

A man seems to live forever - according to locals he's been in that house since their grandparents were alive. Yet he never seems to age - there are even rumours about him being young in their great-grandfathers day - why?

Paradigm Enigma: Being Human 9 minutes 30 seconds 2021

This is the last of the five audiovisual works in the Immeasurable Heaven collection (which is a collaboration between Terry Flaxton and composer Allan Lethbridge). Finally in this grand scheme of existence is the paradigmatic enigma of consciousness wrapped in human form in this part of the universe. Elsewhere self-conscious creatures might take different forms, maybe a balloon-like body on a gas planet or an elongated tall, thin shape on a planet with low gravity - but where there's self consciousness inhabiting a form then these creatures deserve the title ‘Human’. So the enigmatic paradigm of the human drama may well take different shapes elsewhere, but the drama of existence, survival and fight or flight at first, and later a more refined relationship with existence where culture and art and meaning are explored, exist in whatever shape 'the human' manifests. Paradigm Enigma - Being Human is a composition that refers to this drama in its later stages where the matter of living is the subject and these creatures are depicted in the rarified state of hardly having bodily matter at all. Available to purchase here: www.seditionart.com/terry-flaxton/paradigm-enigma-being-human

Once Upon a Time in Venice (Un Tempo Una Volta) 2024 14 minutes

Once Upon a Time in Venice (Un Tempo Una Volta) is an evocative artwork by Terry Flaxton created to draw the viewer into a deeper appreciation of the Venice that exists behind the scenes and offers a magical journey from the tangible to the mystical. This Venetian phrase, when translated into English, is emblematic of the classic opening to many fairy tales and sets the stage for an exploration that deepens the conventional Venetian experience. Through a masterful avoidance of the obvious—eschewing water imagery—Flaxton employs reflection and refraction to gradually transition from clear to kaleidoscopic visions of Venice, pushing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The piece begins with a journey beneath Venice's bridges, where colored silk cascades over the camera lens, creating brief veils into another realm. This artwork is not just an exploration of Venice as a physical space but a deeper dive into what Venice symbolizes, attempting to thin the veil between the real and the imaginary. Flaxton challenges the viewer to look beyond the scenic to discover Venice’s essence, making Once Upon a Time in Venice a unique reinterpretation of the city, untouched by the waters that define it. Available to purchase here: www.seditionart.com/terry-flaxton/once-upon-a-time-in-venice-un-tempo-una-volta

In Paradisum 2024 3 minutes 30 seconds

Entering Paradise by is a serene depiction of the joyful oblivion at the moment of death, evoking the tranquility of Faure’s Requiem. Inspired by the "In Paradisum" antiphon from the Western Church Requiem Mass, it mirrors the comforting chant sung as the body is taken from the church. Drawing parallels with Tibetan Buddhism, where sounds welcome the soul into the afterlife, the artwork suggests that certain states of Alzheimer's and dementia might signify the mind crossing the life-death boundary ahead of the body. It also echoes William Blake's For Children: The Gates of Paradise, envisioning a seamless link between heaven and earth. Flaxton’s personal experiences of transcendent bliss, where he felt the dissolution of the self, are deeply embedded in this piece. Entering Paradise invites viewers to contemplate death as a peaceful entry into eternal bliss, portraying it not as an end but a serene transition. Music by Alan Lethbridge. Available to purchase here: www.seditionart.com/terry-flaxton/entering-paradise

"On approaching and entering the gates of Paradise, you will notice that you are welcome. You feel that your past life is drifting away from you and becoming untethered from ‘you'. You are new, and what you see is what you know and have experienced for time immemorial - you have always been here between small bouts of amnesia where you were supposed to have learned something, though what that is you cannot now remember because all seems perfect. As you slowly dissolve these past thoughts you surmise that perhaps you were a carrier, a vehicle for shouldering what has to be improved in the world down below, which all now seems a distant memory which is slipping away - but now that you are here, enfolded within the gentle glow of light and sound that surrounds and enfolds you, you know that sooner or later you will go back down again, to do whatever it is we all agreed to do as a condition of our ability to experience this level of joy and bliss - and the trans-action we are involved in is not just acceptable, you want to repeat it again and again because the moment of ‘now’ in this space is worth it. In the light, every so often there are others just like you that pass by, who have similar experiences and they too are happy with the outcome but you have no need to share with them specifically, because in Paradise everything is shared constantly, no one is an island, no one is alone. "In paradisum" - english: "Into paradise”, is an antiphon from the traditional Latin liturgy of the Western Church Requiem Mass. An antiphon is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain and it is sung by the choir as the body is being taken out of the church. The texts of antiphons are usually taken from the Psalms or Scripture, but may also be freely composed. Here the sound composition is by Alan Lethbridge and the image and idea composition is by Terry Flaxton, both of whom work together sometimes to realise certain unfamiliar states of being.