As a digital artist I process/transform imagery/text I find online. Herein I process/transform the poetry and image of Melissa Alvarado. Initially, her striking beauty compelled me to explore Melissa Alvarado's Facebook page, but it was her writing, to be found in the Notes section of her Facebook page, which inspired me to create this animation. One particular poem, It Wasn’t Like in the Movies, mourning the death of her niece, truly moved me. It resonated beyond the pain of focusing in upon the death of a loved one. The words I plucked from the poem reflect the surreal clarity of a dream state. I animated the words and wrapped morphing imagery of Melissa Alvarado around them. The morphing imagery is rooted in a cellphone photograph posted on Facebook. Cellphone photographs often possess what I can only describe as a “fleeting glimpse” feel that I can readily play off of digitally. In using the Internet as a means of taping into other people’s aesthetic sensibilities, I realize I cross a boundary. I immerse myself in another’s personal space and use digital tools to transform pieces of their space for my own purposes. My motivation is purely artistic. Here I felt that as an artist I lacked a certain quality: intimacy. I saw that quality in Melissa Alvarado’s writing and image, so I taped in respectfully, yet passionately.
Animation duration: one minute forty-four seconds, before looping.
Peter Schmideg