Double portrait

6 MINUTES

Two lives drift apart and come together in a love story told one brush stroke at a time

In Double Portrait, the London-based artist Ian Bruce animates the love story of Geraldine Peacock and Bob Gannicott, who first met on the school bus in Bristol. To capture the gradual passage of time over the decades, Bruce painted them side by side at different life stages, photographing each new brushstroke to produce a time-lapse effect. Narrating over these images, Peacock recalls how the relationship was shaped by near-misses, career highs and lows, long silences, unforeseeable turns and unexpected returns. Bittersweet and easy to sink into, the short seems to explore not only the couple’s incredible story, but romantic love more broadly – in particular, how it’s so often shaped by forces beyond our control, and how it means choosing the same person over and over, across time.

LOVE CAREGIVING MEMOIR

Director: Ian Bruce

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