Lumière

My work is meant to imply some level of synesthesia tending to cross boundaries between allegory and observation, a practice of observing the socialized urban landscape, constantly in flux. There is a Pretenders song that has long replayed in my head called “My City Was Gone” which toys with expectation of place. I’m fascinated by this sense of otherness often overlooked by the casual passerby. The recent Covid-19 pandemic only heightened our day to day normalcy for other ways of interacting with people and spaces. And this is exactly the ‘space’ that I am exploring in both the films of 'Elemental Studies' (2023-24).

The work in the series consists of overlapping imagery (sometimes contrasting, sometimes clashing). These images are highly worked as if to almost begin piecing together a puzzle and/or map that may only make sense upon attentive perception (something quite degraded in the era of social media, etc). The interplay of shapes, textures and other markings become repetitive, and a sense of play have further encoded the reels under the guise of the Surrealist premise of ‘the exquisite corpse.’ My creative practice is leading me towards this set of circumstances (or happy accidents), the haphazard vs. intentional (‘human remains’).

At an unprecedented time in our history, where image-making itself has become socially reductive in a world of handheld selfies, 15-second instant media, I’m taking stock of these artificial eccentricities, this pixelated 'Wild West' -- where the only constant is flux. Maybe I’m a collector of chaos? For me, the medium only becomes more relevant and vital when its boundaries are broken, blurred and explored.

Nature’s four elements have traditionally been part of the functional core of our planet since the dawn of time. After the Industrial Revolution humans really have challenged the due course of organic life: Climate Change vs. Mother Nature has become imbalanced with a variety of stressful impact, especially in the 20th Century into the present. The elements, themselves, each court their own symbolism: air/wind (expansion/movement), earth (stability), fire (energy/rebirth), water (adaptation/fluidity). In modern times the elements strike up thoughts of fear as well: air (tornadoes), earth (fracking/quakes), fire (large scale forest fires), water (tsunamis/floods). The inherent capacity for change is in the balance between humankind and nature’s wrath. We live on a planet of biodiversity that has a changing, sometimes fragile ecosystem.

Often peaceful and yet wildly savage at times, the natural elements are Mother Nature's system of checks and balances. This series of films takes artistic license in interpreting how these elements shapeshift in ways that are both non-narrative and illogical (organic). The way I see each of the individual elements is more of a meditation. This series of black and white film shorts get lost in the earthly elements, becoming a surreal mantra of sorts, and takes a necessary pause in a time of great change. The original score is something else, and genuinely has been an intense collaborative effort.