Springtime Shoot in Paris
I just got back from a nice shoot in Paris for my Lalitafilm. I have now filmed in all three cities Lalita has lived: Mumbai, Paris, and Montréal. My film partly has to do with the ways our bodies are shaped or affected by the places we live. So I was looking for images that feel in some ways quintessentially Paris - and yet are not cliché... for some reason, I found that shooting on my cheap little Flip camera yielded some interesting results.
On the sightseeing part of the trip, I also enjoyed visiting the Mosquée de Paris, where in addition to seeing the beautiful tilework and gardens, you can get a full hammamtreatment with steam baths, black soap, and muscular old ladies massaging you down with scented oil...
First Showing of Lalita Installation
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.
New Health Equity Video
The Center for Health Equity and Social Justice at the Boston Public Health Commission just launched a video trailer we produced about their work to eliminate health disparities among different racial and ethnic groups. The Center funds dynamic projects around New England that focus on the social determinants of health, community engagement and mobilization, and long-term systemic change.
MFA Graduate Exhibition in San Francisco
I'm getting my Masters of Fine Arts degree from San Francisco Art Institute next month and will be presenting a new piece at two shows (below). Lalita tells the story of a resilient woman whose body has been remarkably transformed by loss of skin pigment, cancer, and other conditions.
The piece explores the idea of the body as an archive, onto which one’s experiences are imprinted over the course of a life. Lalita Bharvani is a quintessential global citizen whose body seems to respond to her feelings about crossing national and cultural frontiers.
MFA GRADUATE EXHIBITION
San Francisco Art Institute
Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason
Marina Boulevard at Buchanan Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
May 15-22, 12-6pm daily
Opening Reception: Vernissage
Friday, May 14, 6-8pm
* I will be showing a 2-channel installation of LALITA*
GRADUATE STUDENT FILM SCREENING
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Sunday, May 16 4-6:30pm
* I will be showing a 15-minute excerpt of my LALITA film (work in progress) *
Monkey Dance in NYC April 27
Tuesday, April 27, 7:00pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue (at 2nd Street)
New York, New York