The last light by Lee Maelzer

Artist statement:

It’s a view of the tower block opposite. The vista is head-on to the drab, rectangular building. I always think that if you turned it, it would be as thin as a piece of paper. Nevertheless, the view gradually began to present something magical as I noticed the sleeping and waking rhythms and wondered about the lives of the invisible residents.

By about four am, when I am often awake with that sense of unwanted solitude that hour of the night lends us, there is usually just one light still shining at the top right of the building. I used to think I was silently communing with a kindred spirit but it recently occurred to me that they might just like to leave the light on.

The Last Light (2021) is a new moving image work by Lee Maelzer about compressed urban lives. Maelzer conceived this work in 2019 after moving into an east London council estate. Primarily a painter, this is Lee’s third short film to date.