Laura Deutch
MFA Candidate, Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
As an educator, artist and activist, I'm interested in developing ways that we can use media to gain greater personal and social agency in our lives. I want to make work that can move fluidly between visual styles and traditional genres. By confronting my own biases and fears through my work, I hope to provoke the viewer/participant to do the same. Thus my media practice is an extension of my personal questioning, and consequently, the relationship between formal strategies and practice greatly informs my approach.
I'm passionate about nonfiction because it allows for a unique sense of discovery and adventure both for the maker, the subject and the viewer. The extent to which we can gain a greater understanding of the complexity and breadth of experiences in the world, the richer we become, not only as individuals, but as a society.
More recently, I've become interested in locating my practices through an exploration of relationships between individuals and their environment. I am seeking innovative approaches to projects that deepen one's awareness and perception of physical, cultural, and historical place. Unpacking this dense ecology demands multifaceted forms of research and practice. I hope to experiment with and utilize multi-channel environments, participatory processes and mobile technologies to engage these questions. I am also interested in exploring ways of working which privilege the process over the final product. My vision is that media can offer people new ways to understand, interpret and engage with themselves and one another.