Andréa Harris is a visual artist based in Seattle, Washington, who has also spent time in Washington State, Boston, Florida, and France – each of which has naturally impacted her artistic practice in different ways. Andrea describes Reflection and Response as an interaction between the artist and their work — with each entity active in the dialogue. Her work is a result of this ongoing conversation and she uses various mediums such as painting, photography, collage, digital video, and sculpture. Along with her words, Andréa presents specific pieces from her incredible collage and sculpture projects EXPERIENCING THE CENTURY and OUR EYES THAT ARE EVER MORE MY OWN. Peep the dialogue below and stay tuned for more exciting projects from her workshop!
Making work turns into a conversation between reflection and response — sometimes the artist is the one responding in the work, but other times the work talks back and makes its own demands to be heard.
– Andréa Harris
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
AH: I am from the Pacific Northwest, and grew up in several towns near Tacoma, WA.
There is something to be said of place and creative work. Everywhere I’ve lived has had a specific head-space to it. It’s been easy to make work in some places, but nearly impossible in others. Having lived in Seattle, Boston, Sarasota (Florida), and three summers in South-West France, I have experienced a variety. However, I have yet to find the place I work best with.
Right now I’m in Seattle, WA. It’s the city I consider home. I have a feeling there are some explorations ahead of me though.
Andréa Harris – Experiencing The Century 12
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
AH: As an artist and general introvert, the majority of my time is spent in reflection. Reflection isn’t a place of comfort. It is a place of unstable ground and a catalyst for change. Reflection is the foundation of Response, but the creation of work contains both. Making work turns into a conversation between reflection and response — sometimes the artist is the one responding in the work, but other times the work talks back and makes its own demands to be heard.
Andréa Harris – Experiencing The Century 10
How does your work fit in with that definition?
AH: The overarching concept I find myself fixated on is the idea that reality is malleable, fluid, and constantly created. I explore the flexibility of reality through: the relational boundaries between the body, consciousness, psychological states, ideologies, and perceptions of the self, the other, and the transcendental. My work operates in a space of questioning experiences and concepts. It is the product of reflection and response, the push and pull between the two. I enjoy working across disciplines, letting the concepts I’m working through dictate or have influence on whether I use painting, photography, collage, digital video, sculpture, etc.
Andréa Harris – Experiencing The Century 01
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
We’ve been fortunate enough to have become close friends with Dresden-born musician, writer, and filmmakerFranz Rothe over the past year here in Brooklyn, and his versatility and creative output are huge inspirations for us. In an insightful interview, Franz guides us through his perspectives on Reflection and Response, explores how these concepts fit in with his musical process, reflects on a recent album called Away that he worked on as part of the band Franz & Frau Schneider und dieser Andere,and talks through various current projects. Let’s dig in:
I believe that the urge to write a song results from the need to capture and express a certain feeling…You chase this feeling, this impulse, because it is haunting, like something you have once known but forgotten. And you try to figure out what it is, what it wants to be, how it wants to sound.
– Franz Rothe
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
FR: I am from a beautiful city called Dresden in Germany. But I have been living here and there in the recent past. Right now I live in New York, which is wonderful but won’t last very long either.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
FR: I think that, in a way, Reflection and Response describes the very essence of music or really any kind of art. I believe that whatever we create can only be seen as a response to what we have seen, heard or experienced before. At least I would say about myself, that I’ve never come up with any kind of idea that was not a response to something somebody else did before me. We reflect upon our experiences, our impressions, and we respond to them – knowingly or not – and sculpt them into something new.
Pessimistically, that view could lead to questioning the mere idea of originality, as everything is just a combination of what was there before. But on the other hand, I enjoy the thought of being a part in an endless chain of Reflection and Response.
(For example, I am not ashamed to say that my biggest form of admiration for any kind of art is the thought ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ followed by the thought ‘How can I take that and turn it into something new?’…)
How does your album ‘Away’ fit in with that definition?
FR: I think the album ‘Away’ is on many levels the product of Reflection and Response – it is what we made of music we heard, songs we love, songs we hate, books that touched us, people that surrounded us and places we have been. But it is also what we made of each other and ourselves.
I believe that the urge to write a song results from the need to capture and express a certain feeling. It’s never about which chords might go well together and which words might rhyme. You chase this feeling, this impulse, because it is haunting, like something you have once known but forgotten. And you try to figure out what it is, what it wants to be, how it wants to sound.
I think, in the best case an artist should be like the needle of a record player, materializing an invisible something.
As we were three musicians working together on this album, the most important part was responding to our surroundings in a similar way. Sharing an understanding of the feelings that we wanted to transport in the music we made. And with every musician we brought into the studio, we hoped they would be telling a similar story as we did, adding to what the three of us shared.
Then again, that sounds way more complex than it actually was. In the end we just made music together, simply loving each other for that.
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
FR: I’m trying my hand at a couple of different things right now. There are so many languages in which you can express yourself, so I tried to look for other languages like film or writing. Kind of to find an outlet for things that haunted me, but couldn’t find their way out of my head through chords and melodies.
I made a documentary about forced evictions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with my dear friend Michael last year. It’s called ‘The Final Days’ and I’m happy about anyone watching it on vimeo.
Right now I actually started writing a book, which has been on my mind for ages. But first novels usually suck, so there’s really not too much to expect there…
Who or what inspires you?
FR: Places. People. My friends. Vivi and Lukas, who are the other two-thirds of the band. Their talent and their ability to always just naturally come up with exactly the right thing – that never ceased to amaze and inspire me!
Generally speaking though, in the best case, absolutely anything could be inspiration. But unfortunately I often have a hard time keeping the open eyes it takes to be aware of what’s actually around me.
So what I do is I travel a lot and try to see and live in as many countries and cultures as possible, to absorb as much as I can.
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
FR: Check out the photographer Ben Zank! I just had the pleasure of meeting him and he is as nice a guy as he is a brilliant artist.
Shout out to…?
FR: Huge shout out to Vivi and Lukas, with whom I made the album ‘Away’ and whom I miss terribly when we are too far away from each other to make music!
We’re honored to present this week’s feature on East Harlem-based educator, documentary artist, and performing artistTanya Jackson. Collaboration is hard work sometimes, but nonetheless forces everyone invested in the process to grow—Tanya discusses her experiences working with other artists on some inspiring film projects and how she herself grows and develops through each project. Watch as she builds an exhibition of how we as people can be reflections of one another as we respond to the brush strokes that paint the canvas of our lives.
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
TJ: I’m a native New Yorker. I was born in Long Island and during the early years of my childhood, I bounced around various sections of the city. At about age 12, I moved to Hudson, New York where I finished high school. From there I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of New York at Albany – SUNY.
I lived in Philly for about 11 years and recently moved back to New York where I currently reside in East Harlem. But I spend a good amount of my free time in the artistic bed of Brooklyn.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
TJ: Reflection is a process used for recalling experiences in order to analyze and evaluate our thoughts, feelings and actions, as well as the social context that informs how we address those experiences. Reflection is how we make sense of our lives and the world around us. Response is replying, answering or reacting to something – and the reaction can take many forms.
Artistically, I respond through my role as an educator, media maker and performing artist.
How does your work fit in with that definition?
TJ: I recently worked with Visual and Performing Artist Frances Bradley shooting and editing the promotional video for the Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? project. The project is a depiction of her experience as a victim and survivor of sexual assault.
When Frances and I first started discussing ideas, I found myself reluctant to take it on because I was dealing with a lot personally – including the loss of my father and my younger sister within a few months of each other. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and all those things made me feel defeated. But creativity has the power to revitalize.
As a documentary artist, it is always challenging to document someone’s personal life. It requires you to be present as a human being but detached as an artist so you can operate from an objective standpoint that allows you to convey their message in the best way. Even though Frances only needed basic videography services, it ended up being a pretty tough project.
The experience depicted in Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? is not isolated. One in six women are victims of sexual violence, and through visual art, Frances managed to capture themes that reflect the psychological and emotional trauma every victim deals with after being sexually violated. You can’t spend countless hours shooting and editing that type of footage and ignore that.
Retrospectively, learning about Frances’ experience and working to capture the message she was trying to convey challenged me to reflect and cope with my personal history of being sexualized at an early age. I was on a creative journey that no other project had ever taken me on. Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? is truly the Art of Healing and working on the project helped my own healing process. My contribution to Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt is paralleled with Frances’ work – and is the response to that reflection.
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
TJ: Ironically, the majority of projects I’ve worked on for the past year focused on relationship and sexual violence.
I’m co-director of an after school program where I also teach high school students documentary filmmaking around social issues. This past spring, my students chose to explore dating violence for their term project after one of their peers shared her experience of being in a violent relationship with her child’s father. After showing my students the Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? promotional video, the same student who shared her violent relationship experience, shared how inspired she was by Frances’ courage to give voice to her trauma, and work to heal. Frances’ story, in part, helped this student find the courage to profile her own story in the students’ film, Journey to Survival, which confirms the necessity of the Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? project.
Last year, I co-starred in the short film, Bottom, written by up and coming director Chinonye Chukwu. Bottom addresses sexual trauma’s effect on intimate relationships. That film is currently in distribution and recently premiered at the Los Angeles OutFest Festival.
Promo photo from “Bottom,” a story of love between girlfriends taking an unexpected turn.
In the beginning of July I (humbly) served as a production assistant for an episode of Lisa Ling’s Our America series, which airs on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. I say humbly because I haven’t been a production assistant in a couple of moons and I certainly didn’t see myself chiefly responsible for getting coffee and loading camera equipment at this age. But the experience and networking opportunities were well worth it!
I am currently working to finish the documentary for Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt?. And I will also be working with Ms. Chukwu on her next short narrative, A Long Walk, a story that takes place in Philadelphia during the 1980s, and explores the effects of staying silent after witnessing injustice.
Who or what inspires you?
TJ: I find inspiration in lots of places. Throughout the course of my life, the Black experience in the world, the struggle—how people fight against various forms of oppression in this world has always moved and churned my spirit. As a youth I danced, wrote poems and made speeches about the Black experience. Ms. Debbie Allen was a huge inspiration to me in my youth because of her ability to channel different forms of artistic talent as a means of expression.
Learning inspires me! I earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in media studies, with a specialization in media literacy education (MLE). As a student I was always excited about investigating all kinds of interests, especially when it came to studying how people consume media. The best practices of MLE rest in the awareness that inquiry and co-creating knowledge in an educational setting cultivates learning that requires constant reflection and encourages intentional, conscious response.
The energy of NYC inspires me. I am inspired by my students and the communities where I work. I find the perspective, courage and vulnerability of other artists inspiring. Beautiful imagery in still and moving images cause me to soar. Direct engagement with all sorts of art is inspiring to me. I especially like being pleasantly surprised by art and nature when I’m walking about in the world. I tend to get lost in my head a lot when walking and when art or nature unexpectedly jumps out at me, I’m immediately reminded that beauty can be just as real as it can be imagined. Of course, a well made documentary film or video can inspire creative ideas. Lastly, and most importantly, I find inspiration in myself when I am centered and in tune with my own creativity—true inspiration comes from the inside out.
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
TJ: Art is a universal language and the life-size art of Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? tells a story that the majority of women in our lives are experiencing. People are becoming more visually oriented and conversations about sexual violence, it’s impact on victims and the healing process, needs to reflect that trend.
Only four out of 12 pieces of Womanhood or Woman’s-Hurt? are finished and we’re raising $25,000 to complete the project and we need all the support we can get. Every dollar counts so please contribute to this project.
I’m just beginning momentum for my company, Life Happens Media Works. The Reflection and Response theme of LIFESTYLE resonates with the direction I plan to develop future work; taking part in this interview has been very helpful in developing these concepts. Thank you for your time and interest in my story.
I also want the Collective to know that our gifts matter! Our existence matters, even when we don’t feel like it does. We must continue to reflect and respond through our work and just Being the unique expressions of Love that we are; we are messengers!
Shout out to…?
TJ: All my homies! The driving force and PR department of the Womanhood or Woman’s Hurt Project, Frances Bradley and LaToya English; Frances Bradley again for her courage, power and artistry, she definitely inspires me in multiple ways. Thanks to the Educational Video Center where I currently teach documentary filmmaking. EVC has been such a great place to merge my skill sets in education and media making. As I enhance my artistic skills, I can’t ask for a better day-job set up. Thanks to filmmaker, Chinonye Chukwu for being my artistic angel. She has lovingly included me on really amazing projects in ways that challenge and honor my gifts. She has provided a significant amount of loving support and encouraged me to continue being a true artist! Shout outs to all artists! Shout outs to my family and friends who ground me, save me and love me through thick and thin, Shout out to the city and people of Philadelphia for helping me mature and cultivate my work ethic. Thanks to New York City for its energy, urban beauty, diversity of people, and its art and experiences. Thanks to the Universe for everything!
Check out more of Tanya’s work below:
Breathing Easy: Environmental Hazards in Public Housing (Trailer)
Tanya currently serves as co-director of Educational Video Center’s Youth Documentary Workshop. Breathing Easy: Environmental Hazards in Public Housing, is one of the student-made films in her workshop. Breathing Easy was produced by high school students who participated in EVC’s fall 2012 Youth Documentary Workshop. Students focus their attention and cameras on the harmful impact that lead poisoning, mold, and pests and pesticides in low-income housing has on the health and wellbeing of their communities. They investigate how these pollutants affect their fellow student’s Harlem apartment, and show how the information and advocacy provided by WE ACT for Environmental Justice and other health experts give hope to a family in need.
Alaskaland (Trailer)
One of Tanya’s artistic roles is as a script supervisor for film productions. In 2011, She served as the script supervisor for the feature length film, Alaskaland, shot on location in Fairbanks, Alaska. “Alaskaland tells the story of Chukwuma, an Alaska-raised Nigerian struggling to balance his cultural heritage with the pressures of the larger world around him. After a family tragedy forces a two-year estrangement from his younger sister Chidinma, the siblings reconnect in their hometown. Although their time apart has created new frictions, they find their reconciliation bringing them closer to each other and to their roots in this gorgeous, knowing debut film.
It´s Friday, which means we welcome another voice to the continuing diologue over at the LIFESTYLE´s Feature series. Frédéric Bussière uses primarily visual mediums to practice Reflection and Response. With experience that spans many places around the globe, Fred’s perspective is aided by difference lived and learned. He is also our first Collective member who currently resides in France. Peep the dialogue and links below to get to know the Craft behind the person that is Frédéric Bussière!
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
FB: Hey, my name is Frédéric Bussière, I’m Franco-Portuguese. Concerning where am I, that’s a bit harder. Right now: Paris, but I just came back from Sydney and I lived in Bonn, Germany and Buenos Aires before.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you?
FB: For me Reflection brings me directly to an image of myself, as an artist. It is the assessment of critiques from those whom I work with and from the public. It is then a mirror, generated by others. In a general manner, I take a selection of these judgements from my peers, the others videographers, motion graphics designers and animators. I work most often for these critics, and my friends, than my clients.
Response, for me is the physical phenomenon. It rains, you are wet. It’s the response in the most obvious sense, the law of cause and effect. In French I would say: Under the budding poet hides a mathematician. I have no idea how to translate that in an English expression however.
How does your work fit in with that definition?
FB: My work, what I film and edit, what I draw, are my Response. I could not, not do what I do. It’s almost therapeutic. It is very much a need; to create, to tell stories, use my hands to realize something ambitious. I do not respond to the public, I respond to myself.
Reflection is only the manner in which I do things, my style, and my artistic direction.
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
FB: At this time I am making a lot of commercials for fashion brands, and lingerie, as well as producing animated sequences also for advertising. These projects are short and varied, which allows me to really experiment in several different domains: video, stop motion, traditional animation, and 3D. But what I really start to miss is fiction. I really tried as much as I could to bring a story to my commercials, but it still remains advertising, and their goal is to sell a brand image, a product, and not to tell a complex story.
In Sydney, I started to film electronic parties. My old flatmates were DJs and really brought me into the nocturnal life (even if the Australians begin their nights at the beginning of the afternoon, lol). After that moment, it became clear that I wanted to produce music clips. I hope to be able to start my first music clips in early 2013. However, the competition is really tough, and it will be much harder to set my foot in the door, especially here in France. That’s why I look towards the US.
At this time, I am finishing a live-action short feature, and I will try a new concept of narration this winter in Sri Lanka: a short interactive feature. But I can’t say more…it’s a secret. ^_^
In the end, two years ago, I founded with four other friends, a film and production studio: tadaaam-studio.com that allows us to finance animated fictional projects that are in general, very complicated to make feasible without a structure that a studio can provide.
Who or what inspires you?
FB: (for the free beer ^_^). Classical painting, photography. All these works of art tell stories, and going into museums is like going to the movies. It’s a passive inspiration I would say, and that orients my work at the written level.
Similar to that, there is a fast-growing technology that allows me to regularly create something that would have cost thousands of dollars a few years earlier. So the ever transforming domain that I work in also serves as my inspiration. I love video effects, like those of Michel Gondri (a French director who made music videos of the White Stripes, Killie Minogue, Daft Punk, Bjork..) and I “borrow” quite a few ideas from experimenters who you can find on the internet, but I won’t say their names so that I can keep my inspirations secret (evil laugh).
At this time and for several years, I have been fascinated by the work of Merlin Bronques. He is a photographer from New York who photographs the craziness and the women in huge international parties. The entirety of his collection creates a sort of documentary on the world of hipsters, of the youth who party as much as their bodies can take, of free women, of money. He is always where he must be, when he must be.
There is also those areas that I feel are rich in ideas, but that I have not yet explored, or haven’t dared, like contemporary dance.
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
FB: Contemporary art, when it’s about watching a pile of rocks on the ground, and when you must read four pages to understand what it’s about, that annoys the hell out of me. These artists should become either intellectual writers, or take drawing lessons.
Shout out to…?
FB: To all my friends who I have met during my travels around the world, and who I fear I will never see again.
Happy Monday! Today we take it back to Berkeley (Rose and California for those that know) and bring you a video of me doing the new version of “Solitude,” on the Novation Launchpad running through my old Fender guitar amp. Vicken set up the iPhone camera and we gave it one shot. Word to Claudia for the soulful vocals and lyrics recorded in Buenos Aires! Those of you that made it out to the show at Wurlitzer were able to see this in action. I hope you feel it!
Greetings! The Feature Series Rolls On. Today the LIFESTYLE’s Collective heads back up to the Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, home of dope Thrift Shops, Marshawn Lynch, and Stefan Paul George. My man Carlo Mejino brings us his perspective as a young and accomplished creator. His clothing brand GAJ has a growing presence around the Seattle Streetwear scene in multiple shops, his own store, and online. Clothing is only one of his creative outlets with music and videography providing other ways for this Craftsperson to practice Reflection and Response. Peep the interview below for words from a new voice and check the links for looks on GAJ and his other projects. Peace!
Leading off with some basics, where are you from? And where are you at?
CM: I am from Seattle WA, born pure of 100% Filipino blood from my two parents who moved over to the U.S. in the 70’s and 80’s, respectively. I was raised in the north side where I went to Catholic school through the age of 18 until I went to the University of Washington, my first public school. Basically I grew up on lumpia, church, rain and the Seattle Supersonics.
Right now I am back in Seattle after spending a couple years in Los Angeles chasing TV and film production work after college. I started my own clothing company called GAJ that is currently available in a couple local shops as well as my website (www.GAJSeattle.com) and I am currently working on that passion project among other creative outlets such as music and video production. I play in a band with some college friends (Victory Lap) and from time to time I make videos to try and make my friends laugh. In summary, my life is clothes, Internet, music, videos and friends. Basically, I picked back up where I left off before I moved from Seattle back in ’09 haha. Old habits die hard.
What does Reflection and Response mean to you? How do GAJ and your other projects fit in with that definition?
CM: To be honest, I haven’t had a lot of time for reflection because I am constantly on the move as I work on one project and quickly go to the next one after the last one is completed. My work is constant in that I’ll be working on, say, a new design for a shirt, then I’ll be working on an event, then a new song, then something for the website or Facebook page, and then back to working a new piece of clothing, and so on and so forth. I’ve never really been able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor, so to speak. My hands are constantly in different pots and I wear many hats, so there is always something going on.
Maybe that time for reflection is right now.
My response? I still have more work to do. I’m never satisfied
What else have you been working on recently? What are you looking to work on next?
CM: Recently, I’ve slowed down on the clothing aspect as it has taken up pretty much all of my time during the past year and I believe it’s at a point that is very manageable for a one man operation (because in the beginning it was a struggle in every sense of the word) so I’ve sort of re-molded it into a side-project that I can do along with a 9 to 5er. Production of new product is a bit slower, but I really focus on doing quality releases so those that have the patience will be handsomely rewarded.
Next up for me is a new music project. After getting the ol’ band back together (minus our talented and gifted guitar player, Peter Muller) for the Victory Lap show at the KeyArena, I’ve been fiending to get back on stage and perform again. Even though we played some pretty cool shows back in college, I feel as though I’ve gotten better at performing with those years away from the stage in terms of confidence and stage presence. The problem is that I’ve realized I can’t just rely on these other guys in the band to get my jollies, playing pretend on stage since everyone has their own lives and obligations, so I’ve started recording my own tracks produced by one of my oldest collaborators, Moynilectric, along with some new producers. I’m hoping to get some sort of mixtape done by year’s end. We’ll see though because so far I’ve only finished one new track and I’m still writing for others.
Who or what inspires you?
CM: My inspiration really comes from the people around me; my friends and family. Even though we’re all in different lanes and lifestyles (mine very different than most), I look at all of their accomplishments and success and try my damnedest to reach the level that they all occupy. The best part is seeing how very happy they all are with their lives and achievements, and their strength and confidence in taking themselves to a higher level. The funny part is that we are all so proud of and support one another that it is almost sickening haha. As much as I tell all of them how I’m so proud of them and how inspiring they are to me, they never hesitate to turn it around and say the same about me, even when I don’t feel the same way about myself. I’m surrounded by people who make me want to do better! Talk about first world problems…
Is there anything else you would like the Collective to know?
CM: As cool as it is to do such an introspective piece and doing the inadvertent reflection & response within that I’ve never really been able to fulfill until now, I don’t believe that I deserve to do any such feature haha. It goes along with never being truly satisfied since I don’t believe I’ve earned the attention of anyone that would find any piece of my story interesting (yet), but I am very thankful that I’ve gotten the type of attention that someone believed is worth the time for a feature. It feels pretty good when someone’s paying attention. (Let me say “attention” one more time…..thanks.
Shout out to…?
S/O to Peter for asking me to do the feature because the lens should really be pointed in his direction since he’s more interesting than I am.And shout out to everyone who still enjoy my various creations and endeavors because they’re the real motivation since I tend to get tired of what I’m doing.
It’s been a long time comin, but today marks the release of our Shake This MazeTools of the TradeVIDEO!! With this project we have taken our Patchwork audio-visual collaboration approach and applied it to itself.
The video content was filmed throughout the process of handcrafting the album cases for Shake This Maze. This documents the stages of cutting, stenciling, writing, folding, gluing, and packaging that went into bringing the 100 physical copies of STM to life.
Meanwhile, about a month ago, P brought out a couple of creative remixes that he based off of various tracks from the album. One of these remixes appears in the soundtrack of the video, along with a few other cuts from the album.
From the Leon studio to the Brooklyn workbench, from music to art, the Tools of the Trade Video sees the Patchwork process double down on itself and spin out through film.
the LIFESTYLE 