There is a special privilege that comes with having a family full of artists 1. is the special love, understand and support (read: very supportive, very loving) you get for your art – a familiarity of creation 2. The archive of family photos, videos, records etc.
So thank you to my Uncle David (linking the doc created by my cousin Charlie, when I say a family full of artists I mean it) for the record keeping and the endless supply of fodder for the fire.
Writing has been doing it’s thing, the collection is coming together – I am in the stages of figuring out how the heck I wanna put this thing our into the world. Dispatches and desions incoming I am sure. But for now, a piece I’ve been working on for years that finally feels like its taking form 👯♀️
The Best Costume For Today
I’m not sure of the source of the histrionic flare my family possesses but my grandma may have to claim herself as the source.
There is a law in visual illusions and perception called persistence of vision. It is similar to how the frame rate of film works. When cameras have a long exposure time, they have a greater sensitivity to image, but you have a more sluggish response to light. Filmstrips roll images together tricking your brain into seeing the movement and action on screen. There are a series of images that make up an action, and when played at the right frame rate, our brain fills in the gaps of the action. There is nothing actually moving on the screen, it’s an optical illusion. Your brain creates the sense of movement by linking the images together.
The digital conversion black and white film flashes. She looks the same but skinnier, not even that much younger. Just more polished than the version of her I spent every Sunday with the year before she died. Her dark hair hasn’t been over-dyed in the sink for 30 years yet, and it shows up on the film as black – not the bright purple colour it was when she steps into the sun.