Washington, DC/Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, United States
I am a journalist, documentary filmmaker and educator with narrative films rising. My interests lie in art, power, our web of relationships, creative conflict, justice, beauty and how all of those things intersect in this big, complex world of ours.
"The moral imagination requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies"
"The structure of the web combines interdependent connections with localized independence. Strength is built by creating coordination at the hub without centralization."
"This whole endeavor of making a web requires a deep commitment to innovation and flexibility"
Wow. Talk about a web of relationships! After I posted my last blog - I visited Howard Zehr's Restorative Justice blog and he's talking about regarding and relationships around photography!! Wild!!
Here is an excerpt:
Roswell Angier, in his book Train Your Gaze, observes that what makes a portrait come alive and feel authentic is the photographer’s “thoughtful regard” – the “felt activity of someone looking.” But the regard goes both ways. It is a consensual process: “the contract between subject and photographer hangs palpably in the air that separates them.” A conscious, mutual regard is reflected in the photograph.
The mutual regard underlying such a portrait involves a relationship of trust and vulnerability, if only briefly. Power relationships are also involved. As Angier notes, the photo records this exchange.
This exchange of trust and vulnerability in turn implies an obligation on the part of the photographer. That is why it is so important for photographers to also experience the lens side of the camera: to be reminded of the gift with which we are entrusted when making a portrait and the responsibilities that accompany this trust.
Take a look at Howard Zehr's full post on diological photography:
I am going to give a talk at commencement so I've been toying with subject. My French is popping up here - regarder - to look. As I was walking around Geneva today - I kept thinking that I was finally developing a relationship with this city. Rather than simply regarding it - passively, cooly looking at it, I felt myself investing in it and becoming almost impossibly in love with it. Call it Spring Fever - but something shifted with the lushness, the people all out, talking, engaging, connected. How shall we engage what we do as conflict transformers??? (remember, I am NOT a peacebuilder) Shall we regard? Or develop a relationship??? Either way, I think we should be intentional about how we engage.
The video doesn't add much - but the light was really beautiful... so here it is :)
Today I gave a preview of my capstone to colleagues at UNHCR. The real deal will come on Thursday, April 23 at Eastern Mennonite University.
The capstone is very personal - about the process I've used to figure out vocation - or voice. When host-driven reality television came to the scene about 10 years ago, I became first frustrated, then outraged. But what to do? How do you shift to a different reality? My move to the country helped, then my Masters at Eastern Mennonite University. Through my practicum project I've been able to identify and articulate first a shift in my focus; from an energy expending orientation on goal... to an energy expanding focus on foundation.
Through an art project that was my practicum proposal, I identified Intuition, Home, Connection, Vision and Power as the building materials for the next phase of my life. This has helped me figure out my values, my voice, and the questions I need to ask as I move forward. Maria Soledad Rueda Garcia and Deanna Gergich provide generous feedback on all of these ideas.
