February 7, 2021 | Perfection, capitalist definitions of human value, lemming-like conformism - society raises us in belief systems that do not serve us. In this short video I unsubscribe from the clutter and choose self-belief and my own core values.
Unsubscribe (from old belief systems) (2021)
digital video, color, 1280 x 800, stereo, screen capture
Length: 1:55 minutes
Screen capture (I used a free version of Screencast-o-matic) was the perfect medium for me to express the idea I've had around liberating myself from harmful ways of thinking by "unsubscribing" from old belief systems like from an annoying newsletter. Layers of browser windows send harmful messages. As I repeatedly hit the "unsubscribe button" and close the windows one by one, a visual altar of positive beliefs and images remains, closing on an image and quote from poet Nikki Giovanni: "Once you know who you are, you don't have to worry anymore."
I developed this piece from prompts and techniques presented in the "Memories for the Future" Visual Storytelling Workshop by MoMA and The Studio Museum in Harlem, which takes inspiration from filmmaker Garrett Bradley’s America (2019). Facilitators Jeannette Rodríguez Píneda and Jazmin Jones
encouraged us to go into archives of images and videos to create short films with healing visuals. I love their guiding questions which included "In what ways can we begin to heal through time and space?" and "How can we begin to acknowledge the fractures present and move towards closure?" - The visualization of process inherent in this medium is key to showing healing as a journey through time and space. The multiple screens within a screen and cacophony of sounds illustrate the fractures, just as closure is portrayed literally in the closing of browser windows.
Final still of the short film: my desktop background - an image created by The Root of a smiling Nikki Giovanni accompanied by one of her quotes .