Jo Nigoghossian -USA

A Time Of Seasonal Moods -2003- 00:01:56
A Time of Seasonal Moods interweaves surveillance footage with one staged image of a girl on the edge of a cliff and transforms it into a mini fairytale in the format of a Hollywood feature film trailer.

Spring/summer Month: May Year: 2002 Length: 00:04:17
USA
Synopsis: Spring/Summer was shot in the SOMA district of San Francisco where I witnessed the construction of low-income housing. I watched activity in the playground in one of these housing communities and observed children realizing the growing occupancy and the manipulative nature of their environment. The piece reveals the importance of illusion and fantasy in overcoming the restrictions encountered when a subject tries to alter social environments.

I deal with the issue of authorship of images and footage by exposing subtle transformations in strangers and situations through metaphorical video work. I often deal with free, strong and brutish looking people and children from socio-economic sectors whom I film without them knowing, allowing a mythical perception dominate the form of my work whilst exploring an expanded social landscape. I respond to similar looking under exposed people who share the same gestures and ideals as those over exposed. I try to show people who accept their own tragedies and make them monumental, attempting to create organic imagery in conflict with fictitious romanticised influences.