Experimental Videos
Explorations of editing techniques, video collage, and other non-traditional uses of the moving image.
Threshold
Two-channel video installation,
3 minutes and 41 seconds
In times of uncertainty, I find peace in the simplicity and inevitability of the natural world. This meditative video installation captures moments of calm and stillness within the cycles of nature, interrupted by intrusions of harsh line through manufactured elements. As a self portrait this juxtaposition reflects my own struggle to reconcile traditional mediums with digital process, and expresses my own transient self-perception in a season of urgent change.
The collection of this image series was an act of meditation itself; a search for the places where soft, rich color met with subtle motion. I had the pleasure of sitting still, waiting as the camera recorded. In contrast the digital processing of these images was fraught with intense calculation, and the resulting intrusions stand out regardless of their attempts to mirror their natural counterparts.
At Sea
At Sea is an experimentation with the juxtaposition of still and moving images, and breaking the typical frame through which we view films. I created this intaglio print, scanned the image, and altered it digitally.
Video, sound, and score elements are borrowed from "All Is Lost", a film by J. C. Chandor.
World On Fire
World On Fire is an abstract music video created by layering, masking, and transforming footage in order to distort the images. This technique was inspired by the cover of the novel "The Overstory" by Richard Powers, as well as the slow, hypnotic rotations of a record player.
This video was created as an academic assignment at the University of Connecticut's Digital Media and Design department, in the Introduction to Motion Graphics course. The film footage is repurposed from the films La La Land and Gravity, but the editing, motion design, and title design is my original work.
Ladylike
la·dy·like
adjective
appropriate for or typical of a well-bred, decorous woman or girl.
synonyms:, genteel, polite, refined, well bred, cultivated, polished, decorous, proper, respectable, seemly, well mannered, cultured, sophisticated, elegant, modest
The Ladylike video series is an exploration of the stereotypes of femininity, and the pressures of performance and appearance that women and girls operate under. In this series, I juxtapose impractical feminine outfits and tasks with harsh natural environments, highlighting the challenges of meeting societal standards of beauty and behavior. The successes of this character in completing various tasks also elude to the strength and resilience that many women must posses to meet the demands of modern life.
This series was created for my BFA Thesis at the University of Connecticut. I was both performer and camera operator for many of the shoots, though I sometimes had the help of friends to monitor the cameras after I had placed them. I also edited this series.
Ladylike received the University of Connecticut Faculty Award as well as the Feminism in the Arts award, funded by the Feminist Art Project at Rutgers University.
Return
re·turn
verb
come or go back to a place or person
"he returned to earth in the fall"
synonyms: go back, come back, come home
Return is an abstract video piece, pondering themes of anxiety, and the conations of both security and rest that earth elicits. The two hands act as independent characters, locked in a dance that moves from twitchy apprehension to soft consolation. The rich, dark earth is at times a coveted and comforting object, then quickly becomes repulsive and unwanted. The hands search for rest; a return to the innate safety that solid ground provides.
This video functions best as an installation piece. It has been shown in gallery spaces on a screen perched on top of a mound of mossy earth, bringing elements of the video closer to the audience, and disrupting the otherwise pristine gallery space.
I shot and edited this video, designed and lit the earthy stage, and also "performed" as the two hands on screen.