34  FEATURE
         www.EDP24.co.uk
Eastern Daily Press, Thursday, August 24, 2006
Sisters merge their
lives in art and film
Two sisters are now
filling a beacon north
norfolk church with a
sensory feast of
pictures, sounds and
moving images. IAN
COLLINS hails a pair
of artistic pioneers.
A
ll  around  the  walls  of
Salthouse  Church  there
now  hang  paintings  of
colourful tumult -  merg-
ing and  moving as if  by
magic  into a film  in the  darkened
interior of the tower.
   By  turns  poignant  and  poetic  -
beautiful,    beguiling,   bewildering  -
the multi-media show is the work of
two  Cromer-based  sisters,   artist
Anna-Lise Horsley and film-maker
Siri Susanna Taylor.
The  2sis  project - complete  with
sound  installation and  Drawing the
Invisible  workshops -  is a  feast of
creativity  and  a hard-won celebra-
tion of life.
   Abstracted   pictures   in   brilliant
acrylic,  with  added  washes of gloss
and  glitter,  hint  at  what  might be
seen in x-rays, medical textbooks and
microscopes, or deep in some fathom-
less ocean.
   They    then    flow    into    the
Bubblebabble  movie   where,  with
added shadows and reflections, they
are  distilled  into a shared  response
to the elements  of water  through a
concentrated montage of filmed and
painted images.
   As you will have  gathered by now,
the  lives  and   inspiring  stories  of
these  two  siblings  and kindred spir-
its  have  been  dramatically  out  of
the ordinary.
   Siri  Susanna says : "We  are  half
Norwegian  and  our   collaborations
somehow seem to take the  journey
back to our roots,  to the  island  of
our childhood  summers  surrounded
by water and mountains.
"We return  again and again to  the
strong influences of  nature,  wilder-
ness and open spaces,  exploring an
underwater world ... and freedom."
  For Anna-Lise, a working artist for
the  past  30 years,  the  intervening
voyage of discovery has taken her to
different  countries  and   continents,
homes, studios and clinics.
  She says: "In 1980 my husband and
I moved to New York  to pursue our
careers as painters.  We converted a
loft for studionand living space, and
then I became pregnant - giving birth
to our son, Joe.
   "He  was   subsequently   diagnosed
with  severe  cerebral  palsy,   and we
were forced to move back to London
when  unable  to afford  treatment in
the US.
  "But  we  found  the  medical provi-
sion in Britain appalling."
   So they moved  again - this time to
Hungary, so that Joe could attend the
controversial   Peto   Institute   for
Motor    Disordered    Children    in
Budapest.
IMAGES: Anna-Lise
Horsley  with
"Sunset Shadow
Game" at Salthouse
(main Picture)
and Siri Susanna
Taylor on the
Cromer cliffs with
her film camera.
  The first British family to use the
Peto  clinic,  they  stayed for   nine
years, experiencing vibrant and tur-
bulent  times  as  Hungary    finally
broke  free  from    Soviet-imposed
communism.
  In 1994,  with  Joe  now  14,  they
returned to England, with Anna-Lise
building   her  artistic  career  in  the
limited  spaces  of  life as a full-time
carer.
  That  period  lasted  for  a  decade,
until Joe's  death  two years ago.
  "He  was  a   wonderfully   positive
person."  says Anna-Lise.
  "He left me with his philosophy of
life - which was to live every minute
to the full."
   Now she paints seven days a week -
either  in a Cromer attic, with a view
over church tower and  North Sea, or
in an old stone  house in  the wilds of
rural   France   surrounded   by   "the
buzzing   of   insects,   birdsong   and
silence."
   Siri Susanna's  multi-layered  career
has been focused on the camers. As a
student   she   produced   hand-drawn
animation and was one of the first to
shoot videos in London streets.
She  helped to restore the silent clas-
sic  The  Cabinet of  Dr Caligari  and
Metropolis,   also   producing   new
soundtracks.
  Her first montage film to be broad-
cast on TV  was  praised   by   David
Puttnam  for "virtuoso editing"  and
her latest projects have included pro-
files   of   painters   John   Hoyland,
Gillian Ayres and Adrian Berg and a
portrait of  Dadaist  Kurt Schwitters
during an early period in Norway.
   Ranging  from  straight  documen-
taries  to  strange  installations. Siri
Susanna's  work shows a fascination
with the whole process - and endless
possibilities -  of  independent  film-
making.
   Although now filling a church, the
two   sisters   have   projected   their
shared pursuits onto  an even  larger
screen.
   Two years ago they  caused  aston-
ishment   when   their   collaborative
piece,  "Pool",  was  projected   onto
Cromer Pier  as part of the Artlights
project for Commissions East.
  "There was a very positive reaction
from  the  public,   particularly  chil-
dren,  and many people found this a
way into the paintings."  says Anna-
Lise.
  Until September 3, from 10am until
5pm daily,  the way in to the striking-
ly  contemporary  pictures -  and  the
sounds  and  the  moving  images  - is
through an ancient church door.