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Above : 4 min clip excerpt, "Skimmer," 2026​

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SKIMMER

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Experimental documentary video poem, Skimmer is a memoir on field research undertaken by a team of marine biologists during the BP Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, winter 2010.  Animated video content offers a visual poem about the raw experience of observing how scientists bring up crustaceans, shells, fish and other inhabitants from the benthic layer of the ocean at sites where previous field studies have occurred. Dr Heather Bracken-Grissom climbs into the benthic skimmer apparatus on deck to collect specimens for study, especially decapod crustaceans.The film 'skims' the depths of heroic field study during a manmade marine crisis. Conservation biology, taxonomy, and biodiversity are immanent themes. 

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Andrew McIntosh composed Symmetry Etude VIII (2014), noting "I wrote the piece up to the middle point relatively intuitively and then attempted to write it from that point on in reverse from memory." The film's structure reverbs benthic (deep ocean) and temporal layers through form-echoes of the rectangular skimmer itself. Special thanks to marine biologists Dr Suzanne Fredericq and Dr Heather Bracken-Grissom for letting me film this epic voyage.