Sometimes when I am working on projects, I am sifting through a cluster of ideas. I always have an objective or line in sight. What surrounds that is a blurred process that incorporates exploration, analysis, and personal reflection. It can take a year or more for me to get to a final piece of work. On the other hand, I can produce something within a couple of hours. It depends on my drive/ambition, the moment, and what it is that I am working through. 

For example, just last month I finished a short video that came out of sorting through scrapped footage from The Wind of Our Body. I worked with Katie Rensch to create Components, a silent video poem. I am always surprised at the spontaneity and pace I can work in, especially when collaborating. Often working on the whim like this is inspirational. It keeps me moving forward. It keeps me connected to the work I do. 

There are times though when projects of mine require more time and thought. Here, Mom (2014) was a journey that took me two years to make. I have found myself with a project that I think will take me on a similar journey called Moonland, a short experimental narrative film. Instead of creating a traditional script for the project, I am creating a cluster of moving images, poems, and reflections to organize and complete Moonland. It is very similar to collaging. This is similar to how I worked on Here, Mom, which is a lyrical video essay, not a narrative film. 

What I can say is Moonland is a film that contemplates walking, dry land, wind, sunlight, and the longing and appreciation for place. It may take me years to finish this work, but that is okay. I am not working to make a product. I am working to create a space where I can get to something and then let it go. It is like holding sand in your hand. I can let the sand slip slowly out of the slits between my fingers; or I can can control the pace, letting the particles leak out little by little, watching and feeling the way the sand leaves your hand.  

​I will be posting to this blog to reflect on the process of constructing this work, as Moonland isn't just a film, but a path to understanding what I am trying to work through, not just as an artist, but as a person.