Welcome to the latest newsletter from www.rebeccaswan.com

Here is the latest…

Well I had a great time trialling the interactive component of ONE at Massey University in Wellington in June.  This is my current project that investigates the fundamental connection underlying the diversity of humanity.
To view a selection of images from ONE go to:
http://www.rebeccaswan.com/

The idea behind making the work interactive is so that it records the faces of the local community where-ever it’s screening.  The work is always evolving and the boundaries between artist, subject and audience get blurred.  I trailled ONE at Massey because I was fortunate to have access to the 42” plasma screens that are situated around the University and I had onsite subjects who were keen to be photographed.  So I set up on campas with my camera, laptop and portable background. I had some computer programming done that enabled me to screen the faces I had photographed already and then seamlessly add new faces as I photographed them.  It worked really well and gave me a sense of how the final version will look.  I’m now working on speeding up the time that it takes to upload the new faces so people can see their own faces on screen within a shorter timeframe. 

For more details about ONE go to;
http://www.bornkicking.com/x/rebeccaswan/templates/september/template.html

Creative Collaboration

Recently I photographed a great friend of mine Linda Parker who does flying dance performance and teaching.  Flying Foxes, is the name of her corporate entertainment business that she has set up with choreographer Wilhemeena Gordon.  Linda plays with many different personae in her performances including doing flying drag so I was interested in capturing her in the roles of Fire Goddess and Spiderman. Kirsty MacDonald and Chris Pryor were there to shoot it for the new documentary that Kirsty is making about creativity exploring gender identity. It’s working title is “Blur” due to be completed at the end of this year.

Rebecca Swan, Linda Parker and Kirsty MacDonald, photographed by Chris Pryor



Chris Pryor filming Linda Parker with Kirsty MacDonald directing motion control, photographed by Rebecca Swan.



Fire Goddess, image from the shoot.  Linda Parker photographed by Rebecca Swan.

ASSUME NOTHING

In February this year Kirsty MacDonald completed her documentary, “Black and White” which focuses on the story of Mani Bruce Mitchell and how s/he and I collaborated to create the images of herm that appear in my book “Assume Nothing”.

“BLACK AND WHITE”

This documentary has already gone global, screening details as follows:

At The Transgender Arts Festival in Maastricht, Netherlands, “Black and White” screened on June 15th 2006.  It was a great buzz to have it open for the feature, “Trans America”.

At The International Documentary Film Festival, New Zealand, “Black and White” will screen in September/ October 2006, selected out of 500 entries. The festival screens in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin but check out http://www.docnzfestival.com/ for screening information closer to the time.

At The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, (agliff), Austin Texas, .”Black and White” will be programmed to screen between September 29th – October 7th.  There is the possibility that Mani Bruce Mitchell will attend.
See their website for programming closer to the time; http://www.agliff.org/

It will screen at The Monterrey International Film Festival, Mexico, where it’s been accepted into official selection of short films in competition 12- 19th August 2006.
See their website for programming closer to the time; http://www.ficmty.org/

Mani attended a Hui where there was a lot of interest in using “Black and White” as an education resource for teaching students about manifestations of difference. Representatives attended from: the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Ministry for Social Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Police.

INSPIRATION

I was lucky enough to get to the Sydney Biennale at the end of June.  There was some stunning work around the different venues but the absolute standout for me was the Field by English artist Anthony Gormley.  I was so deeply moved standing in front of this work that I wept.

I was so overwhelmed by the energy that the Field exuded.  It was thousands of small clay sculptures representing figures, hand made from 125 tonnes of clay from the Xianxian village, Guangzhou by 500 local assistants.

Here is the artist’s statement from the Biennale handbook “ When all the thousands of pieces are brought together the Field seems to glow - energised by fire, sensitised by touch and made conscious by being given eyes.  The idea is to wake you up and make you take account of the fact that you are the maker of the world.”

You can check out the Sydney Biennale website on http://www.bos2006.com/

Newsletters

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http://www.rebeccaswan.com/contact.php

So that’s the latest news for now, thanks for your interest.  I’ll write to you again in November.

Rebecca Swan