Struggle

This footage by JoAnn Elam was shot during a snowstorm around 1974, probably in Chicago where Elam lived. Everything is covered in snow and the screen is almost entirely white, save for a few people walking around and shovelling snow and their dogs. Similar to much of Elam’s film work set in nature, Struggle also features moments when the camera moves rapidly through the trees in the woods. The effect is disorienting for the viewer, who then experiences the beauty of the snow-covered landscape at the same time as its brutality, which this footage’s title perhaps refers to.