Our Classical Heritage in Video Form

Our Classical Heritage (2010) from Elle Collins on Vimeo.

In 2010, Switchback approached several filmmakers and video artists and asked for pieces based on Switchback books, to be shown at that year's Printer's Ball. Long before I officially joined the Switchback staff, I had the pleasure of making this collage video based on Our Classical Heritage: A Homing Device by Caroline Noble Whitbeck, featuring the text of the poem "Deathwatch." I tried to illustrate the tension between life and death, the present and the past, and the dialogue between the contemporary and the classical that runs through Whitbeck's work.

Elle Collins is the web coordinator for Switchback Books, as well as a graphic designer. She holds degrees in puppetry and film theory, and works in Chicago as a freelance designer and editor.