In this episode, artist-scholar Jessica Bardsley speaks with Edward Frumkin about fictionalizing her lived experiences, working with archival materials, incorporating borrowed sources into a new story, critiquing Hollywood, and the composition of the human brain and the earth.
Guest Bio:
Jessica Bardsley (she/her) is an artist-scholar. Her interdisciplinary research takes an ecological approach to film and media within the global context of contemporary art. In addition to her work as a scholar, she is also an ecofeminist filmmaker. Her films have screened at top festivals like CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, EMAF, Hot Docs, RIDM, True/False, and on the Criterion Channel. She is the recipient of various awards, including a Princess Grace Award, Grand Prize at 25FPS, the Eileen Maitland Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Best Short Film at Punto de Vista, and numerous Film Study Center fellowships. Her research and writing have been supported by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies.
Time Codes:
1:05 - Jessica's Path to Working in Video
3:55 - Balancing Written Scholarship with Creative Works and Making Autofiction Stories
13:00 - Stealing and Following Impulses in The Blazing World
29:50 - Exploring the Ecology of the Earth and Attachment in The Making and the Unmaking of the Earth
38:45 - Rewriting Endings and Searching for Solace in Goodbye Thelma
50:00 - Dissecting the Power of Sleep towards the Human Mind in Life Without Dreams
1:06:00 - Jessica's Recommendations: The Hunger by Tony Scott, Daughters of Darkness by Harry Kumel, and The Hole by Tsai Ming-liang
Show Notes:
Excerpts of The Blazing World, The Making and Unmaking of the Earth, and Goodbye Thelma