Uraniidae(sunset) began as an attempt to re-create, frame by frame, Stan Brakhage's Mothlight(1963) using digital video techniques. Brakhage employed a cameraless " . . .whole new film technique" of his own creation to optically print moth wings, flower petals, and blades of grass directly onto 16mm film. Uraniidae(sunset) was an attempt to apply this same type of collage technique using digital video equipment: digital scanners, digital compositing, and non-linear editing systems.
Uraniidae(sunset) significantly veers away from it's original inspiration and becomes an exploration of digital representation of natural objects. I became more interested in using the unnatural colors of early SD video and creating an artificial, electronic video environment than replicating the original film.
The title of the piece comes from the scientific name of the sunset moths, a family of brightly-colored moths often mistaken for butterflies.