Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

While at Headlands I will be developing the writing and a script for “To The Dead”, an essay-film made up of personal reflections and digressions that cumulatively weave a portrait of Colombia’s political and social strife. The film is narrated in the first-person by two fictional characters, a female and a male voice, alternatively expressing their individual recollections of growing up and living through key moments in Colombia’s very complex recent history.

While at Headlands

The tumultuous social history of my home country, Colombia, has led me to consider how deeply traumatic events can permeate the conditions of everyday life. Through my films I explore the way violence alters our senses of place and time—two defining aspects of subjectivity. Confrontations between light and darkness, duration and impermanence, and between humans, animals, and their environments play out in my work.

My films, which are no longer than 20 minutes, normally take many months to complete, as they are shot in remote regions of Colombia with local actors and crew. In addition, I undertake all aspects of postproduction alone, because editing is a crucial part of my creative process. Photography and installation act as complements to my film practice; they share its economy of means and continue its search for balance between restraint and directness.