Lock
2006
9’33”16mm film transferred to digital media
2 Facing Screens
Supported by British Council and Arts Council England

Lock was filmed at Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China. It is shown on two facing screens showing views from the front and back of a boat as it moves through the locks crossing the dam.The austere concrete walls, giant metal gates and rows of mooring columns in the water are reminiscent of temples and pyramids.The ship lock is a contemporary feat of engineering on a similar scale to these monuments of power, a manifestation of China's ambitions and dream of progress. Relentlessly moving forward through the lock, the boat comes to a midway point where it is held in a suspended present, cut off from the past and future by the huge lock gates and held in a claustrophobic non-time. When the gates eventually open on to what lies ahead, the outlook is disturbingly similar to the view recently left behind, raising questions about progress and linear time.