Kanehsatake (6 min. 2009) Directed, produced and edited by Lester Alfonso, from Alanis Obomsawin’s film, music by Baader-Meinhof Gruppe / Red Army Faction. (Official Selection, ReFrame Film Festival 2010)
I could never write about politics. I don’t know enough about any of it. All I know is that I firmly believe that humankind is just one big breath and our time here is brief. I’m just gonna stick to writing about myself and my process. I’m an expert only on all that is myself and the stuff that happens to me. I can report back about everything that I feel, hear, and see. I find it awkward to be purposefully political with my art. I don’t want to fight, I want to play and be in love.
On Day 56, I have to report that I came across a document this morning that I had apparently written ten years ago. I was tasked to write my “Director’s Notes” on a collection of my recent work that was screening at Artspace. Finding this coincides with the reports on the newsfeed today along similar lines. I found myself drawn to re-read these words and rewatch the video.
March 4, 2009 Kanehsatake (6 min. 2009) Using live video mixing technology to create spontaneous visual associations to sound, I produced this short “music video” using image samples from Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance by filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin and fusing it with an audio track from die Baader-Meinhof Gruppe / Red Army Faction of the same name. The two elements came together one ordinary afternoon. I found the video (on VHS) in a bargain bin for $2 and it coincided with my friend sending me his new CD which had a track on it called Kanehsatake! When I saw Obomsawin’s film, I was struck by the power of the film and I felt an urgent need to keep the memory of this historical event alive because there’s so much work that still needs to be done.
“…because there’s so much work that still needs to be done” — these words haunt me today. Any internal conflicts within a group signal where we need to put our attention. Nurturing peace is the only way to survive as beings united by only one breath. I could never write about politics.
Yet, I was intrigued by my friend Josh Richardson’s invitation to be part of his “revolving door of collaborators” given a chance to “explore violence within their chosen medium…”
DBMG/RAF — for musicians and multi-media artists to “explore the use of violence within their chosen medium for the expressed purpose of destroying the economic, social, and artistic structures imposed on them by the Late 20th and 21st Century Capitalism.”
In the editing, the colours were chosen intentionally; the gunshots and explosions were carefully synced to the soundtrack provided. I see myself as a placement artist placing these images of violence in a motion-visual collage in solidarity for peace.
“Editing is unique to film,” Kubrick said. “There’s only one aesthetic that is completely unique to film, and that is the way you see something edited—where you can see something from different points of view almost simultaneously, creating a new experience.”
More soon! —LA
P.S. If you’re liking these daily posts, perhaps you can consider becoming a monthly donor for a year or making a one-time contribution. It would seriously help a lot. Your money goes directly into supporting an artist committed to continually become the best version of himself. Thank you so much! Much love, LA