Catherine's Room 2001

Directed by Bill Viola

This video work is one of a group of pieces known as 'The Passions' which explores human emotions, inspired by early European devotional paintings. The five screens show different times of the day – morning, afternoon, sunset, evening and night. Each scene shows the female protagonist at a different task, from yoga exercises in the morning through to lighting candles in the evening and finally going to bed. In each scene, the tree outside the window is shown at different stages of its annual cycle, putting the woman's routine in the larger context of the cycles of nature. The work is based on a predella by the fourteenth century artist Andrea di Bartolo.