Family Portraits (2014)

The vignettes that comprise Family Portraits are etudes, that is, virtuosic compositions designed to improve and demonstrate my techniques as composer and performer.

Instead of shooting my own video with a predetermined story in mind,

I used found footage, not knowing what narratives I would later compose.

I chose a dozen or so old films from the Prelinger Archives—grainy, artifact-laden newsreels and earnest educational shorts—and created a catalog of short clips. These clips, looped, let the viewer have a moment of reality, albeit briefly and without circumstance. I mix the video clips live in performance, inventing narratives and speaking text that threads the images together. Whether I reveal the truth of the matter, or not, is up to the audience.

In 2014, I presented “National Champion” at the Roski School of Fine Arts and showed “Darling” at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.