In the directorial debut of their feature film, Borrufa, Portland-based artist, performer, and filmmaker Roland Dahwen presents a quiet portrait of the trials and tribulations faced by immigrant families in the United States. Poetically and ambiguously named, Borrufa is shot on Super 16mm film stock and unconventional by most mainstream filmmaking...
Two months following the tragic and unexpected passing of independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton -- known for such films as Sword of Trust (2019), Laggies (2014), and Humpday (2009) -- Duplass Brothers Productions and Seattle's Northwest Film Forum announced the Lynn Shelton Of a Certain Age Grant in July 2020. In...
Homebound in quarantine during the early stages of Italy's COVID-19 outbreak, musician Bruno Bavota composed Apartment Loops Vol. 1 -- an EP that reflected not despair and hopelessness, but Bavota's unexpected bout of inspiration after lockdown. He traded in his solo piano compositions for synthesizers and woke up early each...
"Capitalism drove our expansion westward, leaving an enormous human and environmental cost in its wake. However, the myths surrounding our settling of the west will have you believe something totally different, entwining these events with American values of ‘freedom’ and ‘independence.’ Our history of settling the West is both a...
In the cinematic music video for “Wine,” Canadian Chinese singer Carson Cheng — also known as KICCC (pronounced “kick”) — emerges from hot ashes like a phoenix and finds himself face-to-face with a white wolf in the woods. The dramatic result of a creative exchange between KICCC and director Brock...
Laraaji, whose name honors the divine energy of the sun, is a radiant personality who often plays up solar influences by dressing head-to-toe in a bright orange color, considered by Eastern yogis and color theorists as symbolic of transcendence. Sun Piano, his summer 2020 release on the British label, All...
For Seattle-based Black artist Zahyr Lauren -- also known as the artist L.Haz, or more concisely, Z -- discovering their personal connection to art came as an unexpected blessing. It was 2015 when the shift began; they were living in New York, working at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project as...
Arts journalism, by contrast, is fundamentally a celebration of the ingenuity and adaptability of human beings, even when the artistic expressions themselves may process difficult topics and times. That is why — after a four-year hiatus — I am excited to officially announce the long-planned return of REDEFINE magazine for...
With the onset of COVID and all things moving online, some event promoters have had the technological know-how to adapt more easily than others. Pink Noise is one of those projects. An art festival and immersive experience "full of noise, sound, music, performance, interactive installations, video, ritual, and healing,"...
A series of informal Zoom conversations about how artists and arts administrators are learning to grapple with public art, social practice, and performance in the context of digital space and real-life limitations. This third installment features conversations with and performances by writers and poets Ebo Barton, Georgia McDade, and Rajnii...