Ants take over Sugar Wharf
No objection to this projection
“All good work is done the way ants do things, little by little”, the words of Greek Japanese writer, translator, and teacher Lafcadio Hearn.
He’s right of course and the same can be said for Tim Ellis, who’s first foray into working with ants will have a spectacular result very soon.
Tim will soon light up one of our most iconic Port Douglas landmarks with ants, ants and more ants. His night-time video projection onto the iconic Port Douglas Sugar Wharf, will capture the wild and mesmerising nightlife of ants celebrating Carnivale. The ant party will be presented over four nights during Carnivale.
From London to Shannonvale
Since training in Fine Art at art colleges in the UK and Holland, Tim Ellis pursued a 20-year career as an Art Director in the UK film and television industry.
In 2005 he emigrated from London to Far North Queensland and is now based at his studio in Shannonvale.
Utilising his visual experiences as an art director, he produces paintings, digital and video artworks.
Tim told Newsport “I’ve spent the last 4 months filming and editing the piece with all different sorts of ants” he said.
Although it’s called the ‘Sugar Ant’ Carnivale, Tim found them far too tiny to get a decent result on film.
He then tried Green Ants and found them very bad actors who did the opposite to what he wanted, so he gave them the flick and moved on to the common garden variety black ant and presto! instant film stars who did everything he wanted them to do.
“They were wonderful they’d run around for hours as I filmed away and were total pro’s and they didn’t fight which was a good thing” he said. For photography aficionados, Tim used a Canon video camera with a macro lens to shoot the ant vision.
In an effort worthy of a big budget movie, he built a scale model of the Sugar Wharf and with the aid of ‘green screen’ and his tiny helpers, when the film is projected onto the real thing at night it will appear that the ants are crawling through the windows and doors of the building. He filmed 6 hours’ worth of material which was edited down to 6 minutes.
Ants Arts grant
The project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance. You can catch the dazzling show starting this Thursday May 19 though to Sun 22 at 7pm Sugar Wharf, Port Douglas.