The Lady from the Sea was conceived and presented as a film, shot entirely on location in and around Longyearbyen, a town north of north of the Arctic Circle, with the story unfolding through a progression of tightly improvised scenes. The Lady from the Sea was the sixth in a series of photo-cinematic tales created by Jules Wright, the founder of The Wapping Project, and her long-time collaborator, the photographer, Thomas Zanon-Larcher.
Part installation and part large scale photographic essay, that modern take on Henrik Ibsen’s play tells the story of Ellida, her relationship with her husband Dr Wangel and a mysterious Stranger who suddenly re-enters her life to catastrophic affect. In the hands of Wright and Zanon-Larcher, The Lady from the Sea explores the strength of Ibsen’s principle character, Ellida, and turns her moral fortitude into a metaphor for all young women trapped within the suffocating constraints of small town politics but who find the strength to rebel against its empty conventions.
The Lady from the Sea was shot over ten days entirely on location north of the Arctic Circle and was made possible by funding and support of the Norwegian Embassy in London and Contemporary Art Norway.