seen only, heard only through someone else’s description

‘seen only, heard only through someone else’s description’ engages filmmakers and artists whose interdisciplinary practices draw from performance, film, photography, research, and writing. The program’s title stems from “Audience Distant Relative” (1977) by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982)—a poem, performance, and mail art piece that uses language to unravel dynamics of distance, visibility, hearing, and communication.

The program is organized in two sections of experimental short films by women and nonbinary artists from the 1970s through the 2010s. Session One: Sometimes We Stand Alone explores personal identity and history through experimental processes and found footage. Session Two: Drawing Energy is concerned with communities of women and their collective power to document and deeply engage with artistic, cultural, or familial lineages. The collected works interweave varied perspectives to probe formal tensions between the moving image and still photography. Featured filmmakers include Brenda Contreras, sair goetz, Onyeka Igwe, Lily Jue Sheng, Lucy Kerr, Deborah Stratman, Tina Takemoto, and Paige Taul, among others.

‘seen only, heard only through someone else’s description’ is guest curated by Gina Basso in conjunction with ‘Image Gardeners,’ an exhibition of modern and contemporary photography from the McEvoy Family Collection. The exhibition identifies emergent visions of the self and collective selves through portrait photography.

Session One screens daily from January 14 through March 4, 2022. Session Two debuts March 5 and runs through April 30, 2022.