Heya to anyone who actually reads these! I can’t believe that it’s been a year and a half since I’ve made one of these posts. I’ve done so much in the past year it’s hard to quick about it.

First off FREE PALESTINE! I am livid at the layers of complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. End the Occupation now. Stop the killing, stop the hate! Israel and the US are leading this genocide as the US continues to provide weapons to Israel. There needs to be a weapons embargo, a ceasefire, and reparations and healing.

Taken at Refaat Alareer Memorial in December 2023 in Chicago : 35mm

on the wall is a banner that a bunch of us in our cohort painted together. The flag is a patch I had on my backpack all semester, and the print is of the photo above on fabric. (also featuring masks from Remnants of the Ceaseless - more on these below)

The biggest achievement is that I graduated from UIC with a BFA degree. At 44 years old I am still a bit shook that this actually happened. I’m not sure if I wrote about this before, and I’m not gonna look back until I’m done writing this post, but, I was diagnosed with ASD level 1 and ADHD inattentive in December 22. I’m still processing this. I was also diagnosed with hashimotos thyroiditis and have to take thyroid meds every morning an hour before I eat, this has been going on for about year.

In my practice I started to dig deeper into my research on identity, dependency, personality, experience, etc. I feel like this film was a good experiment to get all the ideas I have about identity out. It’s not everything, just some building blocks, but I learned a lot in the process and have learned so much more about what identity is just from taking some time thinking about it. (disclaimer: I don’t have rights to these archives, but they are a part of me each in their own way.)

Some exciting things I’ve done since the last post include flying to NYC for In The Wings: Edgelands, a long weekend workshop featuring Deborah Stratman, Kevin Jerome Iverson, and Mary Helena Clark. All three filmmakers literally floored me and I learned so much, and had a blast! On the last night I was humbled as I dropped my phone and rendered it useless. The next 24 hours flying back to Chicago was a trip, but I made it and it was an experience for sure.

bodega cat in NYC on my walk to Union Docs

Then I applied for grad schools. I ended up applying to both UIC and SAIC only because I wanted to stay in Chicago. I got into both schools but SAIC was gonna be rough financially. UIC was much more affordable and more flexible because of how truly multidisciplinary it is! I chose UIC. I was in Jennifer Reeders class one afternoon and mentioned that I got into both schools and she took a post it note and write SAIC and a bunch of dollar signs, and UIC and one dollar sign and put a check mark next to it and handed to me. I still have that post it note! This past week I started moving into my studio and it’s been a lot of work. It will be worth it though! My apartment is not in the best shape right now because it’s like I’m moving out, lol. It’s going to be nice to have a studio!

I’ve been in multiple film festivals, Interspace and Radical Drabble Fest, both at UIC. I was lucky to work as a cinematographer on multiple projects this year. 2 of which I can talk about, Brian Castillos Captive Tolerance Assessment.

Poster by Seiya Abe-Bell and Brian Castillo - the yah yah film is on my Vimeo page. Squarspace and Vimeo don’t work well so head that way if you want to see “its two yahs”

For Brian’s film it was made up of still photography and I was camera 2, the color film photos, I also did some sound and even some acting! And Seiya Abe Bell’s Remnants of the Ceaseless I worked as a Cinematographer for the apartment scenes and some downtown outdoor scenes as well! It was fun being creative with both directors. Another cool thing is we kinda sorta but for real started an art collective called yah yah in March! We had a backyard art show, and we’re planning another even in the fall around halloween!

I have also worked on another one that I will excited to talk about when it’s ready! I worked with a raddd team and it was a dream set.

working on my final for Jennifer Reeders film production class

I also had my thesis exhibition with my senior cohort which included 30 artists and we worked so fucking hard to make the best show we could possibly make, and it was def great! I made a graphite animation that took me months to draw, then I filmed it on the oxberry at school, then processed it with caffenol, this took a while too because I had to time it just right. After that I learned how to make a contact print of a film loop and also processed that in caffenol. This led to becoming a volunteer at the UIC Art Garden over this summer and I’ve been hella lucky to get involved there. I’ve started following the lead of Ricardo Liete’s Photo Garden, and started planting my own plants to make chemistry. This coming week I’ll be at Northwestern for a phytogram 16mm film workshop! And the week after that I’ll start at UIC’s grad program!

Early in the season, Katelyn Patton and I are planting and prepping the garden

And here Elise Robison and I went to El Paseo to harvest some mint. This will be for a very exciting experiment soon to start!

And the first beet harvest was amazing! This will also be experimented with as well!

It’s been a while since i’ve went a good road trip so in June, Kristen and I went on the road for a whole month. I took close to 1000 photos, and over 2 hours of moving image footage. I also process rosemary for my plant project by roasting it on the dashboard and prepping it at a campsite. I’ve done a lot of camping and hiking this summer, as well as having a lot of really great times with friends!

On Friday the 23rd I’ll be at Northwestern for a Phytogram workshop, then it’s my orientation for grad school, and I start classes on the 26th. From what I have heard, the next 2 years might be the busiest time of life, as I will be working, and going to school…and training for a century in late September!

This week is also a big week because the DNC is in Chicago, and it’s right nearby the UIC campus. There will be a lot of people out and now is the time for Chicago to get our voices heard. I encourage you to do what you can to demand that democrats stop the genocide!

Free Palestine,

Thanks for reading,

Best,

Billy (they/them)