1. Anri Sala used juxtaposition of imagery and sound in “Ravel Ravel Unravel” to produce a contradictory perception of musical echoes in a room in which echoes were impossible at the New Museum. I see you using juxtaposition of imagery in “Life and Loss.” Why and how does that function in your work?
K: In my video, Life and Loss, the comparison between life, when Kitty is in the picture in a particular scene, and loss, when Kitty is not in the picture but the camera is focused on that previous said screen, are used to evoke a feeling losing something. It isn’t so much about Kitty but creating a familiar sense of closeness with something or someone and then fabricate a feeling of loss.
2. We are all making work in the context of a long and varied history of video art and media culture. I see a connection between your work and James’ video for Project 1, “Balloons.” Tell me more about how you see this connection or another connection to video art history/media culture?
K: James’ video documented the “life” of his balloons. The balloons are stationed in different places as time passed. It reminded me of how people can live in the past as time passes them by. The trains passed in the background and a man rode his bike while the balloons were stationary. His use of color in the video creatively tied the past and the present together. Much of the video was in black and white with the only color being a few lime green balloons.
3. Do you think viewers of “Life and Loss” who do not have any pets will connect with Kitty and how?
K: Well, the purpose was not to connect with Kitty, my adorable fluffy cat, but to create a sense of connection with a living being. People share moments of intimacy with the people they are most close with, which is why I show Kitty in a few of her most intimate settings. And then I take her away from those settings keeping the camera in the same POV that is was when she was in the picture. I do this to create a sense of loss. When we think about people we’ve shared memories of in these intimate moments they make a home for themselves in our mind but in reality they aren’t there. In the end, Kitty isn’t there either. She exists only in my memory depicted with a old photograph.