April 2022

video + sound​​​​

1920 x 1080 px, 04:22

 

Observing our world through the cinematic lens is one way to frame it. This experimental sound and video montage emphasizes that the cinematic can be framed through a lens; therefore, the cinematic is proposed as indexical through the filmmaker’s gaze. This work is driven by the following questions: To what extent does the cinematic become indexical? To what extent is there a relationship between sound? What can it mean to look at our life through a lens?

 

As a Gujarati Indian American, I am drawn to how media is framed and contextualized, and to how it is perceived in the West vs. India. Video and sound are exemplary catalysts in generating meaning through framing and context. This notion is further emphasized by my approach to coalescing Western and Indian audiences' perspectives on visual and sound media, creating new potential for how media can be perceived. As a result, I have discovered that the parameters for performance are limitless through my video and sound practice. Sound and video can influence each other, but also be independent. I also document what I am accustomed to; therefore, the subject matter I build from reflects my life experiences in the moment. 

 

FAC302C: Spring 2022 is an experimental video and sound montage that examines notions of performance and the relationship between video and sound through everything that has occupied the communal art studio space I have frequently used. I draw on Barthes’s idea of indexicality and Flusser’s philosophy of photography to create my own technical images. I also refer to the media framework I am accustomed to, such as vlogging, documentary footage, and the idea of an opening credit scene, for this montage. 

 

The video frame is the canvas for the shots of the space, which I call the video's paint. Objects, former projects, and decoration around everyone’s spots in the space are recontextualized to create images for the viewer to perceive. The sound is more mechanical to contrast with the organic nature of the space and to challenge whether it complements the environment captured. The sound also represents my interpretation of how I cruise through the space with my camera. Only I and my apparatus (the camera) are the only characters in the space to emphasize that this interpretation of the space is from my gaze. Through the captured space and my insertion, the indexicality of the space I have occupied with others is revealed.

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Exhibitions

FAC 302: Fall 2022, Fine Arts Building C Room 302, Gainesville, FL, USA, Dec. 3, 2022 ​​