Observing a Process
I’ll begin my first Substack with this. I intend to use this space for many things - to share words, observations, processings, collaborations, and psychic proposals. I began my career as an experimental designer and soft material enthusiast along with a social observer and writer. I then transitioned into the world of filmmaking where I could fold my material and social practice into a larger project/concept, now using collaboration/community, cultural critique, the experience of the psyche, and lenses and sound to communicate. More recently, out of interest, monetary need, and desire for deeper meaning, I’ve certified myself as peer counselor in CA, and a Psychotherapist in New York State, more directly and empathetically working with human experience, transformative justice, and the psyche. I see my material and narrative practice weaving throughout.
Now sitting on a coffee house porch in Ohio, back in my hometown, I find myself thinking of where I’ve been, where I am now, and where I will go. Will I ever save for retirement? Will I ever “settle down” in the way I was raised? How have I made it this far without familial funding or a safety net? I find myself easing an anxiety - What do the arts look like in this 2025 American situation? Is a creative and socially engaged future still a reality in this American society? Have I met the end of my own creative road given my position in this capitalist society? An anxiety I know many have.
Among all these questions, I feel myself drawn to this series of Process Documentation. How are people around me still engaging in creative action in a country where arts funding has been slashed? What does it look like to remain playful and creative as neighbors’ homes are being raided, as a local highschool graduate is deported (West High Cincinnati), as a population is wiped out before our eyes and with the aid of our nation, and as the creative action outside of commercial value is positioned as valueless? Art making and creative inquiry is still happening, even if it’s been quieted. I have been drawn to peeking in on this community I have fostered (of artists, thinkers, even psychoanalysts), as an observer and supporter. In an act of research, I’ve been filming the process of my fellow curious, as they create works - studying quietly via video, and for the moment, distilling still images of these connections to share.
The first sharing is in the next post.
XO
Larry