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What question do you keep coming back to in your arts practice?
“I think a theme/concept I keep coming back to more generally speaking has been the definition of home and how that’s been constantly evolving. I think a few years ago I realized how transient today’s world is and it’s a question that’s stayed with me – What is home?. We’re all a complex venn-diagram of many circles and a lot of that has to do with these different homes we have. Not literal homes but places/activities/life experiences that make us feel at home.”
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What discipline, other than your own, do you draw most from?
“I tend to pull mostly from paintings and documentary photography. They go hand in hand in a very unique way. Painting, to me, is an altered reality. The way light behaves in a painting is purely the artist’s imagination and intention. Furthermore, a painter can sit in one place and change the reality in front of them or alter the perspective slightly. On the other hand, documentary photography is very matter-of-fact. What the photographer sees through the lens is what makes a final image. However as a cinematographer, I am able to draw from both. I have to realize the physical limitations of camera placement within a scene, but at the same time I can create light to evoke the emotion a scene needs.”
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What do you enjoy most about the process of creating new work and what recurring challenges do you encounter?
“I love the chance to collaborate. As a filmmaker, I love being able to unpack a story with a group of people that are not only able to pull from what’s on the pages of the script, but also what’s unsaid. Often times our ways of interpreting a script or scene can differ and the conversations that arise from that often lead to new questions and new discoveries. Every day of making a film is a challenge, but I think the idea of working with friends to tell a story effectively is incredibly exciting.”
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