Backyard Zooms

In a similar way to many other elements in this collection, Backyard Zooms illustrates JoAnn Elam’s experimentations with filmmaking and editing practices. In her backyard outside her house in Chicago, Elam first films the construction of a house using fast and slow motion, followed by the same house finished in a time-lapse fashion. The camera then pans over the surrounding houses, expanding the space laterally. After a brief moment inside, where a cat’s ears may be seen against the window, Elam takes us back outside, where she zooms in and out on houses, trees, and poles, taking in and fragmenting space at the same time. The date remains unknown.