“the enduring cycle of strangers”
“the enduring cycle of strangers”
created by Satya Clemetson, Katharine Guzman, Isabella Mendoza, and Olivia Rubell. edited by Isabella Mendoza
“the enduring cycle of strangers” was created for Locust Projects' Locust Art Builders 2020 exhibition "The Rebirth".
As humans, we all deem that our experiences and traumatic events can be compared and judged by a stranger's mentality and perspective. We grow and transform every passing day, constantly learning from others and ourselves. In “the enduring cycle of strangers”, artists Satya Clemetson, Katharine Guzman, Isabella Mendoza, and Olivia Rubell collaborated, all while social distancing. They recreated their idea of what self-isolation can do to one's mental health, but as well as transforming and recreating ones' self again. This film communicates four different stories from four different perspectives. Collectively, this film portrays a feeling of built-up anxiety and creates a space of never-ending sounds. The constant ticking noise that a standard clock makes signifies that we all run out of time, and become someone new. We're all bound to change as individuals, but there's no set time or place that it may occur. We’re all bound to REBIRTH.
follow us on our Instagrams
Satya Clemetson: @clemzeee_
Katharine Guzman: @katastudioo
Isabella Mendoza: @isamydoza
Olivia Rubell: @livrubell
Locust Projects: @locustprojects
Film stills and Descriptions
“After the treacherous quarantine started due to COVID-19, I was lost for a long time. I didn’t know where to go, or who to go to, but myself. Being an extroverted person, I needed to talk to someone other than my family, so I decided to talk to myself, and really endulge in finding out who I truly am. At first, yes, it was awkward, but then the more I talked, the more comfortable I became with talking to nothingness. In my part in “the enduring cycle of strangers”, I asked my cousin, who I have incorporated in my previous 2-D works, to represent myself in this film. A young woman is shown talking endlessly to clothing piled up on a bed. Assuming this is the young womans room, she seems engaged and comfortable with speaking to inanimate objects. Sometimes, to ease the tension of speaking to the universe, I would re-create what resembled figures, made from my clothing. By doing so, my comfort levels increased with both myself and my room.” - Isabella Mendoza
TBA
“Creating “the enduring cycle of strangers” was an experience I will definitely never forget. This past year has been incredibly difficult for me. Constantly struggling with anxiety can be awful, however, quarantining definitely gave me a different perspective. I wanted to portray my character as a version of myself. I know many other teenagers are struggling with the same mental health issues, and I wanted to shed light on the importance of accepting that it is okay to not be okay. This quarantining experience has definitely opened my eyes about how I truly want to live my life, without being held back by the constant pressures of daily life. It was incredible working and getting to know three other talented artists who all experienced their own rebirth, in different ways. Hopefully we all continue to grow and learn from eachother.” - Olivia Rubell
“When preparing to work on “the enduring cycle of strangers”, I thought of the many directions I could go and scenes that I could do to best correlate with the concept. But the one thing I most definitely wanted to express was a contrast. In my part, it’s me sitting in the same spot, with the same road in the back, but with each flash, its night, there's a dramatic car headlight in the back, and an anxiety driven heartbeat. I wanted to show that in exactly the same situations and factors pain and peace could be felt. The lack of movement in the scenes also showed an internal anxiety, worry, and nervousness being felt when it switches to the “negative” scene. To me, this correlated with our title as it shows that every passing stranger can be going through something without even notice, and this is one of the many ways one person could possibly cope.” - Satya Clemetson