Recently, I had the opportunity to write an Op-ed on why diversity matters in creative for Whatweekly.com.
IT WAS AROUND THE YEAR 2003 WHEN THE MEDIUM OF VIDEO JOINED THE LIST OF MAJORS AT THE MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART. Approaching my sophomore year I remember staring at my course registration form and having the desire to do something I had never done before. I felt that I had great skills in traditional art mediums from painting to drawing, but video seemed like a new world to explore. At that time, technology had not yet advanced to DSLR cameras, and we were still recording on mini dv tapes.
My classes consisted of part lectures and screenings of a lot of films that I could never connect with. We had studio time to work on our own projects—our first of which was to create a 30 second edited piece about a topic of our choice. My first 30 second edit took a minimum of 8 hours to edit. It ended up being a piece on domestic violence fusing a poetic voiceover, with reenactments of a woman who was abused and covered in bruises. I was so proud of my piece and til this day, think of it as one of the best critiques I had of my work. A major inspiration behind my piece, was my own personal experience as a child growing up witnessing domestic violence. Both my peers and instructors expressed how the imagery and concept of the piece was strong and allowed them access into a very personal part of my life journey. They spoke about how they felt a connection and a sense of bravery for me to have explored that subject matter.
Click link to read full story http://www.whatweekly.com/2016/02/02/diversity-matters/