“Pup Birth” captures the excitement, chaos, and tenderness between a dog and her newly-born litter of puppies. In intimate close-up, the puppies crawl around and nuzzle with their mother, mirroring JoAnn Elam’s own affection for dogs and animals in general. The date of production remains unknown.
Experimental filmmaker JoAnn Elam guides (or limits) the viewer’s eyes down a rural, wooded path.
Footage of dirt bikes on a course, Frisbee-throwing in a park, dogs, cars, bicycles, and baseball are intercut in this fast-paced film, which frequently draws parallels across the disparate players in the montage of movement. “Focus On” was originally stored with prints of a number of JoAnn Elam’s exhibited works, suggesting a significance to her
V’s Dogs by JoAnn Elam shows three dogs playing and running outside and a woman petting them. Sometimes out of focus, this footage like many other elements in this collection featuring cats and dogs still creates a sense of intimacy with the dogs, through its many close-ups and tight framing. Although we cannot determine the
Elam’s “Letters and Dishes” consists of two main sections. The initial sequence opens on white letters strewn about other clutter. The camera, mirroring the mess, flops about sketching the room slightly out of focus. In survey, Elam lays out three players: a figure donning full US Postal uniform (possibly Joe), a frizzed-hair woman putting herself