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Margaret Rorison

Animation / Video / Film, Drawing, Photography, Visual / Media

Awards Received

Individual Artist

2016, 2019

Margaret Rorison is filmmaker, projectionist, educator, and curator from Baltimore, MD. Her work aims to support and preserve contemporary filmmakers and analog film culture through 35mm projection, education, mentorship, and collaboration.

About the Artist

Margaret Rorison is filmmaker, projectionist, educator, and curator from Baltimore, MD. Her work aims to support and preserve contemporary filmmakers and film culture. Her current work focuses on portraiture, memory, and the precarity and beauty of nature. Her work has been exhibited at Anthology Film Archives, Miami PULSE Art Fair, Microscope Gallery, The Museum of The Moving Image, The National Gallery of Art, and The Walker Art Center. Her short films have shown at festivals including The Ann Arbor Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Images Festival, SF CROSSROADS, Open City Documentary Film Festival, & Mono No Aware Cinema Arts Festival.   From 2012-2022, she directed Sight Unseen Screening Series, an experimental film series that brought over 50 notable filmmakers, curators, and artists to Baltimore to present their work, forming partnerships with various Baltimore-based organizations and institutions in a collaborative effort to expand and connect visiting artists with the Baltimore community.  Rorison also works as an audiovisual specialist for the Film Programs at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and has been teaching filmmaking and photography at various institutions in the Baltimore Area since 2014. She received her BA from UMD, College Park in Creative Writing and Spanish Literature, and an MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media from MICA.      

Margaret Rorison website View Website

Artist's Statement

 

Featured Work

Videos

  • One Document for Hope

    See more information about One Document for Hope
    2016 | 16mm to digital | B/W | sound | 8m

    The sterile and procedural narrative of the Baltimore City Police Scanner recorded on Monday April 27 against precious moments of gathering, celebration and protest in Baltimore from April 28 – May 3, 2015.
    Documentation: Margaret Rorison

    Thanks to Karl Ekdahl for providing the BCP scanner recordings.
    Baltimore, Maryland 2015
    Medium: 16mm
    Year: 2016

  • DER SPAZIERGANG

    See more information about DER SPAZIERGANG
    This film documents long walks throughout Berlin, Germany during the cold days of April, 2013.

    The film is edited in camera and composed of single frame snapshots along with longer moments of glance, captured on one 100’ roll of film.

    The title comes from a story by Robert Walser.
    Medium: 16mm
    Year: 2013

  • PULL/DRIFT

    See more information about PULL/DRIFT
    PULL/DRIFT
    2013 | 16mm | BW, color | sound | 10m

    Ritual takes form amid a late summer landscape.

    This film documents a unique choreographed performance that took place one late summer afternoon in Patapsco State Park in Baltimore, Maryland. Choreographed by Clarissa Stowell Gregory and performed by The Effervescent Collective. Soundtrack composed by Josh Millrod.
    Medium: 16mm
    Year: 2013

  • vindmøller

    See more information about vindmøller
    2014 | 16mm | B/W | sound | 3m

    This short film is a study of the monolithic wind turbines along the shores of Amager, Copenhagen. Triple exposed on one roll of color film and edited in camera, working with multiple print generations and hand processed in a darkroom to create this 16mm print. The soundtrack is a recorded live-improvisation by artist Mario de Vega using unstable media and acoustic resonators

    Medium: 16mm
    Year: 2014

  • BALTIMORE (4m excerpt)

    See more information about BALTIMORE (4m excerpt)
    BALTIMORE | 16mm to digital | color | sound | 2021 | 22m

    BALTIMORE catalogs the landscapes and architecture of the filmmaker’s hometown of Baltimore City. Personal and observational, this 16mm film, shot from 2016 to 2018, explores exterior spaces, material and psychic fragments of historic buildings, many of which have been demolished or renovated since the completion of the film. The film features an original sound design by electronic musician, Bonnie Jones.

    Creation of this work was made possible in part by a Ruby artist project grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

    16mm film digitization made possible with a 2019 LightPress Grant from The Interbay Cinema Society.
    Medium: 16mm
    Year: 2021
    Details: 22 minutes

  • departure (excerpt)

    See more information about departure (excerpt)
    departure | 2020 | 16mm dual projection performance | handmade cyanotype 16mm film

    "departure" incorporates the alternative 19th C. cyanotype process with my passion for 16mm film and darkroom experimentation. The images captured are of my mother and sister, with audio recordings of conversations with my late grandmother, Margaret. This piece is a continuation of the portraits of the beautiful women in my family.

    16mm cyanotype film loops are projected in a dual projection system, incorporating contact mic, synthesizer, and voice recordings.
    Medium: 16mm, cyanotype
    Year: 2020