I’m interested in worlds people have created – very specific, hermetic worlds that haven’t needed to conform to perceptions of the way we should live. – Ben Rivers
In his work, Rivers produces an exaggerated reality by mixing documentary filmmaking with fantasy elements and staged scenes to overstate his subjects’ solitude. Taken from his first feature-length film Two Years at Sea, here Rivers focuses his camera on the detritus that surrounds the home of the film’s subject, Jake Williams of Aberdeenshire in western Scotland. On closer viewing of the image, the car has been built into the exterior wall of Williams’ house. Rivers’ hands-on minimalist style fosters intimacy with his subjects, and the resulting imagery he captures is imbued with a quiet respect and earnest curiosity. Many of the London-based filmmaker’s work are shown inside galleries and art museums, most recently Two Years at Sea was screened at MoMA and as part of the Venice International Film Festival.