Two Artists
Simple, But Joyful
It seems that every day, week and month is different during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time New York started phase 1 of its re-opening, the unsettling news of George Floyd’s death outraged the nation. As a result, many people took action to support the black community. This support soon resulted in violence. Since many people set their alarm clocks on their phones, they find themselves overwhelmed and unsettled as they wake up; the video footage of violence across the country can be extremely upsetting . My Instagram feed was filled with news on the Black Lives Matter Movement protests, peaceful protests that ended up in violence, police violence and COVID-19 concerns of re-opening. And, of course, there may be a relationship between the thousands of people on the streets and an uptick in the number of cases of COVID-19, an idea that is disturbing at least in areas that were hit hard by COVID-19. It became overwhelming the way our world stood for the last three months, and I wonder when will society resume its normal activities. While the future is unknown and I cannot control the heartache of many, I can control my feelings and emotions in the moment. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders, I had more time to pay attention to simple home routines. Prior to quarantine, brushing my teeth and hair, and washing my face and my hands were not significant priorities. Typically, I would rush through my morning routine to get to class or to the library to study. While this routine can be a peaceful start to the day, I would normally think about yesterday’s activities, the plans for that day or week or somebody or something I saw on my Instagram feed that morning. With the freedom and flexibility I had as a result of the quarantine, I found myself able to have a more mindful morning routine. Incorporating mindfulness can positively shift a day, no matter what is going on. Decluttering and emptying one’s mind can help focus and give attention to the moment. When I began to incorporate mindfulness into even the simplest activities of my everyday life, I became more aware of the moment and my negative thoughts washed away. In my video essay, I filmed my mindful morning routine. While I start the day off in the wrong path by checking my social media feed, I can restart my day by implementing awareness. It is important for the audience to see what I see and understand my experiences that morning. While I meditate and practice mindfulness for years now, I am not perfect. My mind can drift off at times which is totally normal.Sometimes it is impossible to ignore the images I saw on my phone or forget an upsetting scene. There is no reason to shame the mind, only bring it back to what is in front of them. However, when your brain floats off and you become disconnected from the activity, you miss the soothing experience of getting ready in the morning. In order to communicate a drifting mind, I include clips of videos, images and sounds that I previously experienced. It is important to hear, see, feel and almost smell the things in the bathroom. I put the camera angle very close and looked down upon the products. Also, I played with the idea of the camera angle. I place the camera at sink level and the camera close to my face as I demonstrate my morning routine. As the video essayist, it is important for me to instruct the audience to stay focused and to understand that the mind naturally wanders off at times.
When Will It End, When Will It End?
When approaching this video essay project, I was intrigued by news of the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests. The weekend of May 29th, I remember I was consumed by the media coverage and photographs, and not focused on making a video essay assignment for the documentary When We Were Kings. When I met with Professor Shafer for a tutorial meeting on the video essay, I shared with her that I had been glued to news coverage of the BLM protests and, as a result, I did not think about this video essay. However, Professor Shafer inspired me to reflect on the connections between Muhammed Ali and the Black Lives Matter movement in the video essay. Video essays are so powerful that they allow essayists to respond to the images they see and hear in the world and create emotional reactions to these images in film. Muhammed Ali’s powerful words have lasted sixty years and are still relevant to society. I created a time period bridge connecting Muhammed Ali’s moving moments in When We Were Kings documentary to recent photographs of Black Lives Matter protests.