Artist Statement
My work explores fictive universes that push the boundaries of the narrative form. As a photographer and 16mm filmmaker, I am interested in the relationship between static and dynamic images, and how both can generate spaces in which new systems can be imagined. Much of my work uses photographs as source material, wherein the photographic document is relied on partly as an object of truth, and partly as an infinitely malleable image-base. My work examines conceptual relationships between photography, time, symbols and memory. Process Statement
Drawing from surrealism, my work transforms “real space” through extensive manipulation and layering that includes re-photography, collage, sewing and multiple exposures in-camera. These processes catalyze unexpected chances that allow me to investigate facets of symbolism, memory and dream.

 

 

Vanessa Woods graduated with an MFA in film, with honors, from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her artwork and films have been exhibited internationally and she has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship for Film from the San Francisco Arts Commission, a Film Arts Foundation Personal Works Grant, and the San Francisco Art Institute's MFA Film Fellowship. She has also been awarded residencies at Djerassi, the Headlands Center for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony and in Pont-Aven, France, through the Museum of Pont-Aven.