Nick Prideaux, ‘Grace Land’

‘Grace Land’ in this way, is a visual representation of grief, loss, sibling hood and the erasure of memory told through photography, dance and video. It is a visual exploration of the tangible and intangible told through a series of vignettes depicting this sense of grief. It is a deeply personal story ruminating on this catastrophic event, centering on the relationship of two sisters and one brother and the hardship that unfolded both before and after the events of this natural disaster.

For Nick, this residency was a first experience moving from stillness towards motion – and incorporating his unique imprint and capture of ethereal moments across an entirely new medium.

“It was always a dream of mine to work with contemporary dance and this project felt like the perfect opportunity to experiment with it. The 3 dancers were incredible to work with, they gave so much energy and they each had such an unbridled eagerness and tenacity to dive into every scenario I imagined for ‘Grace Land’ – it was an amazing experience”. – Nick Prideaux

For his residency at La Maison de la Chapelle, he turned his lens to a personal subject, that of loss. His project titled ‘Grace Land’ was inspired by a once-in-a-generation natural disaster that destroyed his family house in Byron Bay. This home had stood for 39 years as the museum of his life and an architectural remnant of his youth.

“As I prepared for my stay at La Maison, I felt an incredible excitement and an overwhelming sense of exhilaration about undertaking such a big and personal project. I’ll never forget the feeling at dusk on the grounds of La Maison, a waking dream. Working in a team on a project like this was such a beautifully unique thing, to come together as an ensemble, and to share my story on a deeply personal project. To create something so special was a once in a lifetime experience. I felt a huge sense of relief and joy as it came together more beautifully than I could ever have envisioned.”

With the support of La Maison and an incredible group of contributors, we brought Nick’s project to life. Rowan Biddiscombe, filmmaker & cinematographer lensed the shoot using multiple camera formats including the Phantom Camera, which captured vignettes at over 1500fps to create arrestingly frozen moving images. Jessica Ruscoe, designer, stylist and photographer styled the project using her unique, originally designed garments in addition to the talent’s own items to provide a beautifully detailed costume for the siblings represented in Nick’s story. Three incredible dancers Garance Lepetit-Simon, Gaetan Vermeulen, Suzanne Henry, portrayed the roles of the siblings in the story of ‘Grace Land’ through dance and movement.

Together, the crew spent three days working and crafting through freezing cold waters, beautiful meals in the gardens, and an intimate setting that enabled us to find the direction of the story. We filmed ‘Grace Land’  on multiple photo formats (35mm and 120mm) & video formats (Camcorder, Alexa and Phantom cameras for extreme slow-motion capture.) The works are now being prepared for exhibition in 2024.

Tremendous thanks to the cast & crew that supported the project.Nick is now based in Paris and the works are being prepared for an exhibition, as well as a book project scheduled to launch in 2024-2025.