Two Little Pigeons

Paying homage to her experimental contemporary Jack Smith, Vivienne Dick juxtaposes two quite different London landscapes.  

The film’s opening sequence is documentary in style, capturing people basking in the sunshine of a London Park to the sound of Lol Coxhill singing Two Little Pigeons. Men are sunbathing, women are dancing, and older couples are feeding the ducks. The second half of the film introduces two eccentric characters pottering about and having tea in the old Beckton Gas Works, a surreal urban landscape of monolithic ruins, mangled metals and wildflowers to the mesmeric strains of Martin Denny’s lounge music. 

Vivienne Dick is an influential, experimental feminist director who often questioned gender, women’s place in the world and social conformity in her work. In Two Little Pigeons, which she filmed and edited, she explores how social deviation is perceived as dystopian and dangerous.

This film is part of F-Rated: Short Films by Irish Women. To view more from the collection click here.