Red String

Red String is a short film about making a path.  Connecting to nature.  And taking what is not ours.

When I was in 10th grade one of my friends went missing.  It wasn't until my freshman year of college her remains were found in a wooded area back in my hometown.  From there I developed a type of phobia of woods.  Of what I could find, or the people who might be lurking in them.

When we started this project the first thing we covered was safety.  A fellow classmate shared an experience about a flasher in Reedy Creek Park.  I reflected on all of the scary things I used to find at a wooded park back in my hometown.  Once my brother and I found shredded clothes, another time we heard crazy screams for help, another time a duck that had been ripped apart by what looked like hands.  It was a park where a woman pushing her child in a swing was stabbed to death by a stranger, and it was a place I was warned not to go alone.

So when this project began those two aspect came to mind.  Another thing that came to mind was how these things happen, how they are allowed to, and how we deal with it.  One thing was our connection to nature.  Its been said time after time, but it seems these days we are disconnected.  We are disensitized through the hundreds of images we see a day.  Our thoughts are peversed to think things are okay when they really shouldn't be just because it happens so often.

In the film Red String I make a path with red string.  I drive.  I follow the path the string leads me to.  I witness something disturbing with the string over, and over again.  I come to notice nature.  I change the outcome of the disturbing string.  I pick up what is not mine.  I show an image of what happened and then change it at the end. 

These actions are both of the victim and the peverse.  Leaving a path to retrace it for safety.  Drive to forget, to get away, to get to a place.  Following a path to follow someone else.  Following a path that is supposed to be safe.  Seeing what someone else has done and becoming horrified.  Seeing what you yourself have done and being horrified.  Notice nature.  Connecting with nature in the park.  Taking what is not yours.  Changing what has happened in your mind.  Changing what you have done in your mind.  Replaying it over and over again until it seems normal....

I feel like I get hung up on these subjects in my artworks.  It was supposed to be an installation project in the park and somehow my project turned into dealing with some twisted mindsets.  I'm glad I am finally formulating them somewhat, but I hope I'm not missing the point of the class assignments. 

In the end I can't even tell you if the film is saying connecting to nature will heal us or if we'll still be in danger.