Short Film: THE LONGING RITUAL, 4min., USA, Experimental/Animation

Most recently, in my latest series The Longing Ritual the focus has been on the nature/culture continuum, in particular the search for real experience and a connection to the natural world. By using imagery from various personal rituals connected to cycles of repetitive behavior; the work represents a synthetic place where barriers interfere with direct experience. Photography, film, now virtual worlds are often the substitute and have become the closest we can get to the real thing. My work is meant to mimic this phenomenon. I am deeply interested in how as a culture we see through these different lenses including photography, film and the digital device. Because my imagery is either invented, altered, and or taken out of its original context, it then functions in a realm that is not solely dependent on its connection to language. So, although the work is grounded in place, the experience for the audience is more ephemeral. It is linked to the nature of memory and how we construct meaning and identity from our personal and cultural history and how it gets embedded through the natural and built environment. I create worlds in which altered fragments from my existing landscape are pieced together. These territories then become activated and foster a dialogue between different sequences which produce a nonlinear, poetic narrative.