Alchemy of the Word (1975)

Alchemy of the Word is a hand-made film in which I applied Zip-A-Tone patterns directly to 16mm clear film stock, including upon the optical edge, so that the dancing shapes onscreen created their own soundtrack when projected. The film also features my friend, the artist David Saunders, playing the 19th-century French Symbolist poet, Arthur Rimbaud, as he reads from one of the poet’s most famous works, Alchemy of the Word. The film, as well as the poem, are about synesthesia: the artist’s transformation of one sense into another, turning light into sound, sound into emotion, and words into images.