Animation is the expression of internal reality, and uniquely suited to unmasking narrative subtext and revealing unconscious landscapes. Animation is like an inverted microscope. Instead of collecting external reality like a camera, the animation process casts reality outward from within like a projector. Similarly to using a microscope, animation is a process of analysis, questioning, and understanding. Differently, animation is focused inward on the actions of mind rather than outward on the substance of matter.
My filmmaking is a mythopoeic collage practice. I rearrange personal and cultural narratives into documentary storylines. Growing up with a cryptic personal history has inspired my practice of teaching and making “the personal documentary”. Projects begin by mining unconscious memories and personal traumas for the seeds of narratives which then grow into films.
I believe our stories are the roots of our humanity, but our mindful attention is the spark of our enlightenment. I collect the seeds from ripened stories for the growth of new ones, and I cross pollinate their flowers to uncover hidden traits. As these dormant traits awaken, they become windows to the unconscious and the architecture underneath which invisibly scaffolds the world as we know it. Film is a conceptual art, and film viewership is a constructivist activity. As the film grows in the audience’s mind, that is where I position my work.
