DISRUPTION

8mm Film, 2:23 min., Sound, 2019

I was at Rodeo Beach near San Francisco when I came upon a massive dead whale on the sand. Likely struck by a passing cargo ship, it laid decaying with notched gouges in its side. Ignoring the scent of decomposition, I watched as other passerby engaged with the being, some peering respectfully in its death while others prodded and jumped over its tail. Recently, there have been increasing numbers of whale deaths in the Bay Area as increased shipping traffic and shifting thermal currents force marine life closer to the shore. This piece is my response towards feelings of anxious fear on the thought of developing impacts of technology and industry on nature, and human interference on what is natural. I attempted to convey these sensations through the creation of an experimental soundscape, and shot the visuals through single-frame stop motion as a means of expressing the disconnection that exists between nature and industry.


Featuring Vedika Kushalappa, with whom I share these fears.