Runtime 07:22
Saltwater takes the abstract objects that line the reclaimed concrete used to create boat habors in California - broken walls, smashed windows, and ship pieces - and relates them to the anxieties surrounding an ending relationship.
I grew up in California, seeing these objects on walks with my family. I often wondered what lives these objects were attached to previously, and I was fascinated by their ability to evoke personal histories without any supplied context. I began to wonder how memory could exist in physical forms, and how sensations of life can extend beyond the body. These questions of permance have followed me throughout my relationship with love and intimacy.
I used machine intelligence for some scenes in Saltwater, using a computer program to recreate my own animations and sketches, distorting and abstracting them much like a person struggling to recall a memory. I was heavily inspired by the tactile forms of concrete, and made texture an essential component of making Saltwater. Every frame was printed out on paper at a microscopic scale, and scanned back in, creating a texture that mimicks the pocked feel of concrete.
With Saltwater, I tried to create material, permanent forms of love and self, an impossible task in a transitional life.
Screenings:
London International Animation Festival, London, United Kingdom (12.01.23)
Denver International Film Festival, Denver, Colorado (11.11.23)
Viborg Animation Festival, Viborg, Denmark (09.30.23)
- Nominated for the VAF Diversity Award
Malt Adult Student Animation Screening, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois (09.29.23)
Malt Adult Independent Animation Screening, Public Works Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (09.28.23)
Rebentos Emerging Film Festival, Algueirão-Mem Martins, Portugal (06.16.23)
Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Annecy, France (06.15.23)
Images Festival Toronto, Canada (04.15.23)
TAG! Queer Shorts Festival Portland, Oregon (03.04.23)
Student Experimental Film Festival Binghamton, The Bundy Museum of History and Art and Binghamton University, New York (12.03.22)
Tatsuno International Film Festival: Experimental & Animation Without Dialogue, Tatsuno, Japan (11.13.22)
MOV International Student Film Festival of Pernambuco, Pernambuco, Brazil (11.04.22)
Global University Film Awards, Hong Kong, China (11.01.22)
NEOSFest Encuentro Internacional de Experimentación Audiovisual, Monterrey, Mexico (10.26.22)
Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, Baltimore, MD (10.22.22)
University of Winnipeg Film Festival, Winnipeg, Canada (10.21.22)
Opavský páv – Mezinárodní studentský filmový festival, Opava, Czech Republic (10.11.22)
Equinoxio - 24 Festival Universitario de Cine y Audiovisuales, Bogotá, Colombia (09.23.22)
Animation Commencement Screening, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (06.15.22)
LUCID, a Night of Experimental Animation, Baltimore, MD (12.17.21)
Exhibitions:
LAIKA Studios - Pride ERG Artist Showcase, Hillsboro, OR (June 5 - 16, 2023)
THE SHOW - Artwalk at the Decker Gallery, Baltimore, MD (May 13 - 16, 2022)
December Senior Exhibition at the Rosenburg Gallery Baltimore, MD (Dec. 13 - 17, 2021)
Saltwater - Solo Exhibition at the Pinkard Gallery, Baltimore, MD (Nov. 9 - Dec. 3, 2021)
