LAURA COOPER, 2016
www.lauracooper.co.uk

LURE, 2016, HD video. 15mins; (Work in progress) 

The filming of LURE began on US election day. The day before, I had met Patrick. I put an ad on Craigslist to film a hunter, and skimmed through for the most authentic response. I grew up going on hunts in the English countryside, in a non-glamorous sort of way—cold feet, mud, hours waiting in my father's car. Patrick and I agreed to meet the next day at 4.30am at the edge of forest to go deer hunting with a crossbow. I washed my clothing and body in the required scent-blocking products and set off. We sat for hours in an elaborately camouflaged tent, waiting as the night gave into the light, allowing the camera to prey on the hunter who attempted to lure his prey. Apprehensive, scared even at first now it seems important to have made this connection, and to have spent the election day in close proximity to a man with a weapon in the woods, who, after we finished shooting, was going to place his vote, and for who I can't be sure.