Women in Film

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Women In Film

Brent Green

I read about up-and-coming animator Brent Green in my newest copy of Art in America (September, 2007). Intrigued by the blurb, I looked him up on the web and discovered his website as well as some YouTube videos of his work. If you are easily offended or disturbed, don't watch his films, but I find them to be rather poetic verbally as well as visually.





Carlin

Nervous Films

Something for Fun:Parody Video of Bob Ross

Why I Don't Paint People

Amanda Baggs Breaks the Silence

I saw this on CNN this past weekend. While it is not technically about the subject of art, it is a wonderful story I had to share. Amanda Baggs is a woman with autism who communicates through a computer keyboard and a voice generator. She even makes her own videos and has a website. She calls her website a "non-site" and has some pretty entertaining and compelling FAQs on it.

She seems to be on the same page as I am as it regards to the "medicalization of deviance." CNN is definitely not.

"At its core, autism is a developmental disorder of communication. There is no cure. No one knows the precise causes, but recent science points towards a genetic component with a possible environmental trigger."

If something is different, we have to figure out what's wrong. Why is that? Perhaps Autism is a yet not understood form of kinesthetic or synesthetic communication that we can't decipher. Sure, their functioning in THIS WORLD is impaired, but what about in other "worlds" or other groups. Some have an uncanny knack with understanding and communicating with animals. Shouldn't that be considered a superpower? *

She made a video called "In My Language" in which she gives us a glimpse into what her world is like. Frankly, it's almost mystical and definitely artful.



* Read Dr. Temple Grandin's statement on thinking in pictures. She has a form of autism and has been able to understand cattle and developed innovations in farming and slaughter that calm the animals as well as applied the knowledge to changing environments to calm autistic children.

From the Mind of Miranda July

I became a fan of Miranda July after watching her first feature-length film, Me, You, and Everyone We Know. I've been keeping up with her since then. She is a filmmaker, artist, performance artist and "musician." She's the closest thing we have to a modern-day Dada artist that we have. Here is an audio sample. It is called The Arky Girl:


I'm sure her music would be lost on many but her films and performance art are wonder-full. Recently she announced a book of stories she has written. It is called "No One Belongs Here More Than You." In true Miranda fashion, she has created a quirky website to promote it using a dry erase marker and kitchen appliances. If her films, websites, performance art and interactive art projects are any indication, her book should be intriguing to say the least.

Here is a link to a page of her interactive art project, Learning to Love You More; and a link to her all-girl video chainletter called Joanie 4 Jackie. If you don't "get it" click on the link on the bottom right that says "I don't get it." From there, click on the upper left links and watch various video clips from the video chainletter.

I'm Glad my Childhood is Not on Video

I think my younger sister's cohort was one of the last group of kids to not have their childhoods on VHS or DVD. I think I saw myself on someone's 8 mm film once when I was 12 and that was enough. It was very wierd seeing myself. Today, it's quite commonplace. I've often wondered how it has changed people's perceptions of the world and interaction with others, having seen themselves on film and having a different sort of self-awareness than most of us have gazing in a mirror. It is interesting to ponder--especially in post-Springer world.

I stumbled onto this gem this morning. The question is, do you think that THEY or this guy will be potentially more embarrassed in the future? The other question is, why did they choose an 80s dance repertoire for their medley? Another scary thing is that my childhood music is now considered "classic" or "oldies." It had to happen eventually.