papercuts
I’m a proponent of the idea of letting art speak for itself. But there were some things I wanted to share, so to reconcile I opted not to post any thoughts on the youtube video itself, and instead post them here.
A week after the November election, I found out that someone in my immediate family voted yes on 8. I was disappointed and upset. I thought to myself, “Wow… If I can’t even relate to my own flesh and blood, who can I relate to?” This feeling of disconnection was something I had felt for a long time. For awhile I didn’t think I had any friends, anyone to relate to. My foray into art and performance was always an outlet for expression, a way to connect to the world at a time when I felt disconnected.
My idea for the video came about as way to deal with the news after the November election. I wanted to show how I felt. It was a big idea that may not have come to fruition if it weren’t for me seeing the Project Direct contest. It became an excuse to get the video made. I told my roommate about this idea I had and I said, “I want to make a video about how I don’t relate to people. And I don’t have anyone to ask to help me with it… since I don’t relate to people!”
One of the happiest things to come out of making this video was that people did help me. I felt blessed. And slightly stupid. Here I was thinking I didn’t have friends, when I do. I have great friends! Ones that hang out with me all day cutting and taping paper together!
This video was truly healing for me. I started the video feeling disconnected, but I finished the video feeling blessed. To my friends and fans, thank you!
You can watch “papercuts” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w4aZh9BzfY
p.s.
The video was also a comment on the popular-quirky, DIY style of videos today that use paper and hand-made sets. I love those kinds of videos (like vids by The Receptionist) but I noticed that those videos always have humans interacting with paper. They were always magical and fun. But if you were truly in a world made of paper and you were human…. wouldn’t that suck hairy stinky nuts? Like big time? For reals…
January 6th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Mary:
I saw this blog entry, and it makes me appreciate “Papercuts” (my all time fave MVN video by the by) even more. I have always thought that despite and because of the fact that your art is cathartic, it overwhelms with its cleverness. For example, I’ll never forget the first time I saw you perform. I was paralytic with laughter. Literally.
Keep on keeping on,
J.C.