Gerard Byrne’s Jielemeguvvie guvvie sjisjnjeli – Film inside an image (2015–16) will be presented at Towner for the first time since it was acquired for the Towner Collection through Art Fund’s Moving Image Fund.

In this film, Byrne slowly documents the 360-degree panoramic display of the famous natural history diorama at Biologiska Museet in Stockholm, Sweden. The museum opened in 1893 with a display composed of taxidermy and scenic painting that imaginatively transported visitors to the Nordic wilderness. Illuminated only by daylight, the illusion of a natural habitat captivated audiences for over a century. For Byrne, the light-filled diorama can be understood as a form of image making technology, an innovative precursor to photography and film.

Footage of the museum, combined with field recordings of animal calls and birdsong, speaks to our relationship with animals, the natural environment and ideas of preservation. A wider selection of works from the Towner Collection exploring these themes will be exhibited in the Ravilious Gallery and Collection Library.

Jielemeguvvie guvvie sjisjnjeli – Film inside an image is titled in English and the endangered Nordic language of Southern Sámi. No equivalent word exists for ‘film’ in this language, interestingly the closest translation is ‘Life within an image’.

Acquisition supported through the Moving Image Fund for Museums, an Art Fund project conceived in partnership with and supported by Thomas Dane Gallery with generous support of a number of private donors.