Quidditas

1974-75, 19 min, color, sound

Originally designed as a three-channel work, Quidditas is a study of Cape Cod's woodland and coastal landscapes. Taking its title from the Latin term for the essence or "thatness" of the world, this single-channel tape includes seven excerpts from the larger work, each with its own rhythm and visual texture. Subtitled Seven Phases in the Natural Process, the pieces trace the environmental gradation from land to sea, moving from pond, lake, and scrub pines to salt marsh, tidal flats, dunes and ocean. Using video to convey a "sense of place in its own time," Gillette evokes the natural landscape as experiential and sensual. His subtle, almost imperceptible dissolves from one landscape to the next echo the ecological order and evoke natural, geologic time.

Produced by the WGBH New Television Workshop.