Mattapan Moving for Life

On Saturday I had the opportunity to attend and film Mattapan Moving for Life, an an annual event to encourage healthy physical activity for residents of all ages. There was hula hooping and tai chi, zumba and double dutch, and free healthy food from Brookwood Community Farm and other vendors.

Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, the sponsoring organization, hopes that this and their many other programs will help change the daunting health statistics of this community; Mattapan has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in Boston. The roots of this disparity lie in deep socioeconomic factors, from lack of access to healthy food to unsafe streets and playgounds (or sometimes just the perception of danger) to systemic racism.

The Coalition's vision is that "Mattapan will become known as one of the healthiest communities in Boston, with easy access to affordable and healthy food. Our streets will be clean, safe and walk-able. Our residents of all ages and abilities will take regular advantage of the abundant and inviting play spaces and recreational opportunities."

I was shooting the event with one of my favorite cameramen, Thomas Danielczik, as part of a two-year documentation project for the Boston Public Health Commission. Congratulations to Mattapan for a great community event!

First Showing of Lalita Installation

I had the first public showing of my Lalita installation at Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason in San Francisco last week as part of San Francisco Art Institute's graduating MFA show. It was a great experience to build a room and deal with all the technical details for a two-channel HD video projection. (Thanks a million to musicians-turned-builders Jorrit Dijkstra and Matthias Bossi for the help!) I also had the opportunity to show the piece to artist Nalini Malani, who was receiving an honorary doctorate from SFAI, and Johan Pijnappel, a Dutch curator living in Mumbai and specializing in Asian video and new media art.



Royal Toast CD out today

My friend John Hollenbeck, a great drummer/composer, is releasing a new CD today called Royal Toast. The album features his Claudia Quintet together with Gary Versace on piano. My colleague John Harrison and I pulled together some existing footage of the band to make a little Youtube video to help launch the CD.

John Hollenbeck was nominated for a Grammy last year, and continues prolifically to produce some very interesting music. He plays in several groups in addition to the Claudia Quintet, including a duo with my husband Jorrit Dijkstra on saxophone and electronics.