A selection of my works made in the year 2009.

Music by Marlon Battad.

Somewhere between the ground and the sky must exist a spectral space in which the human experiences of time and sensory inputs are warped and alien. “Ghosts Are Crossing,” employing visual and aural metaphors, is a speculation on that space.

Made based on text by the artist.
Tagalog translation by Tess Battad.

Swallows

I.

Flesh and feathers sink wearily.
The mud, its sluggish yawn.
The delirium of ants, the silence.
Each lung must swell with wind.
Each heart must pace a body.

II.

Sunrise, a golden tongue, an open mouth.
The horizon says, I am the difference
between here and there.
The blue meat of everything
looms and darkens,
the mouth spits.
The ghosts of birds
cross bravely upward.

Langay-langayan

I.

Laman at balahibo’y bumaong may lungkot.
Ang putikan, siyang mabagal na hikab.
Diliryo ng langgam, siyang katahimikan.
Bawat baga’y nagnasang palakihin ng hangin.
Bawat puso’y nagnais maglakbay sa katawan.

II.

Bukang-liwayway, ginintuang dila, bukas na mga labi.
Ani ng abot-tanaw, ako ang kaibahan
sa pagitan ng dito at doon.
Ang bughaw na kalamnan ng kalahatan
ay nagbabanta’t kumakanlong,
lumulura ang bibig.
Ang multo ng mga ibo’y
magiting na pumaimbulog.

Stills:

Using both abstracted and referential images and sound, and driven largely by tone and image-sound relationships, “See Eye See Eye” combines stop-frame animation with heavily processed found footage. Addressing both the human eye’s experience with recording media and technology, as well as the technology’s experience with the human eye, “See Eye See Eye” communicates the tendencies of both eye and technology to deteriorate and construct experiences.

A 2-hour performance and installation by sculptor/performer R.J. Tripodi and video/sound artist Brenda Battad in a former classroom.  Unsmoke Systems, Braddock, PA.