Pear Shapes

Directed by Richard Tuohy

Pear Shapes ... one of two 'weed' films I made. In the 1950s, prickly pear was a major weed problem in Australia. This is one weed we managed to beat with biological control. I found a nice confined crop of what I thought was prickly pear and made this abstract film. While a weed species, they made a stunning feature of the landscape. Basically I am playing here with the plant's disc shape. Actually the plant concerned isn't prickly pear at all, but a close relative called 'wheel cactus'. Prickly Pear proper has oval shaped body elements, rather than the more stunning circular shape of wheel cactus. The plant looks and is wrong in the Australian landscape. This film also flirts with boarders and boundaries, with these little 'family groups' of cactuses perhaps as metaphors. (Richard Tuohy)