Finding (Re)Purpose
As usual, summer is hustling by! Every year, May comes along and then it’s JuneJulyAugust in a blink.
After a difficult June, July was a little better to me—as good as it could be given the circumstances of :::waves at everything:::. It brought some new insights and a few potential opportunities.
After struggling with the mandala animations and being unsure about how to combine geometry with natural elements, I started experimenting with some of the literally hundreds (probably thousands!) of nature videos and photographs that I’ve taken.
What would flowers look like if reduced to just their color and texture? What if the leaves rustling in the trees were sped up or slowed down? How could these elements blend together with different shapes?
This process of repurposing and looking at things in a new way has been a lot of fun, however admittedly there’s a lot of doubt that has come along for the ride. I love the results, but the same old struggles have been coming up.
Time has been my biggest challenge for this slow, meditative work. For context, the Breaking News piece that I shared last month all clicked in a heartbeat. I figured out the story I wanted to tell, gathered all of my assets, and I was able to create a 3-minute video in an afternoon.
It takes me several days, potentially up to a week to create a meditative video of the same length. I’ll create movement that feels good, then look at the software timeline and realize the video is only 30 seconds long. Great for social media, terrible for anything else.
(They’ve changed the YouTube preview and it may not show a play button. The photo above is a video link!)
A key factor of this stumbling block has been rigid thinking that I can’t get around. In the video above, for example, the circles draw on, float across the screen, and disappear. In my brain, those circle movements have been checked off an imaginary list and can’t be used again in order for the video to remain interesting to the viewer.
A small saving grace has been that the meditative work is, for lack of a better term, background noise. Similar to visuals at a concert, the intent is for it to be a beautiful addition to another activity, whether that’s yoga, breathwork, sound healing, etc. It’s basically like a moving painting. A small amount of repetition is unlikely to be noticed because the video is not the central focus. This allows me to dismiss the imaginary movement checklist a little bit.
That being said, most yoga, sound healing, etc. sessions are 30 minutes to an hour long. I know it would be noticeable (and potentially annoying) if a 30-minute video had the same circles doing the same movements a dozen or more times, or if a single 2-3 minute video was looped 20-30 times.
Couldn’t I just put multiple 2-3 minute videos together to fill the time?
Yes! However, rigidity strikes again.
“THEY HAVE TO COORDINATE,” my brain shouts. It can’t be 10 completely different videos stitched together; there has to be some cohesion.
It’s not an impossible problem, it’s just been an absolute nuisance and unbelievably frustrating as I can’t begin to pitch this work to businesses, practitioners, and musicians until I solve my it.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, I’m trying to see this wall of my own making as a door rather than beating myself up about the wall existing. Figuring out a solution will take the time that it takes.
Thankfully this problem hasn’t held me back from applying to a few opportunities here in the Twin Cities. One is a partnership with the Saint Paul Public Library to create a community engagement project throughout 2026, the other is a projection art event happening in January along Lake Street in Minneapolis.
Selection notifications won’t go out until September, however, so if you could send some jury approval energy my way, I’d appreciate it!
As always, thanks for being here.
Until the next newsletter, be well!
Giesla
If you’re able and would like to help support my work financially, click the button below to make a donation! I greatly appreciate your consideration.