THE WARM ILLUMINATION OF A HORIZON is a moving-image work by Pōneke artist Laura Duffy. It was created in response to a ghost story performed by Owen Connors in 2019 as part of his exhibition SISSYMANCY at play_station. The vision for the story was derived from otherworldly transmissions received by Connors in the presence of two memorials in Tāmaki Makaurau, dedicated to those who passed of AIDS-related illnesses: Memorial Tree and The Circle of Friends. This film was developed for DUIRVIAS, currently showing at Blue Oyster in Ōtepoti with Connors.

The work is a poetic response to the process in which HIV interacts with the human body. HIV attacks the T cells, which is a type of white blood cell key in communicating with the immune system. This disruption becomes both the approach and narrative of the work, seeking to form its own logic systems that allow for alterity and queerness to be revealed. The film follows a P.O.V. journey of someone losing their lover and attempting to find them through clues they may have left behind.

THE WARM ILLUMINATION OF A HORIZON is a one night only screening and will be accompanied by live responses by Charlotte Forrester and Neihana Gordon-Stables and experimental cocktails by Georgette Brown & Laura Duffy.

This event is made possible with support from Creative New Zealand.

Photography by Hendrix Hennessy-Ropiha