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The Incredulity of Jacolby Satterwhite | Art21 "New York Close Up"

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    [SOUND OF DIAL-UP DATA MODEM]
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    [THEME MUSIC FROM "FINAL FANTASY" PLAYS]
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    [JACOLBY SATTERWHITE]
    When you have cancer, you're supposed to die.
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    With modern technology,
    you're basically being resurrected.
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    When I was a kid, I had cancer.
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    When I was in the hospital,
    I played "Final Fantasy".
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    Those were my escapisms during
    such a deep period of trauma.
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    I can see that being my natural lexicon
    as a creator.
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    Maybe I've been skeptical of my own
    mortality my whole life.
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    I've been making things
    to make myself
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    witness these objects
    and say that I'm still here.
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    [AUDIO RECORDING OF SATTERWHITE'S MOTHER]
    --Moments of silence.
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    So I originally went to Pioneer Works
    as a technology resident,
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    to 3D print my mother's drawings
    of consumer objects.
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    My mother's practice is like
    a gesso or a primer.
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    It's basically the foundation
    for where I begin all ideas
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    and how I perceive these ideas in the present.
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    [AUDIO RECORDING OF SATTERWHITE'S MOTHER]
    --I apologize.
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    [SINGING]
    ♪ I apologize for what I put you through... ♪
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    [SATTERWHITE]
    She made 150 a cappellas
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    that were kind of mimicking the traditional
    standard for Top 40 hits.
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    The songwriting was a big component.
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    It was something she would do
    in a mental hospital.
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    It was something she would do at home.
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    [SINGING CONTINUES]
    ♪ My life was crazy when I didn't understand... ♪
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    [SATTERWHITE]
    Nick Weiss from Teengirl Fantasy,
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    he and I spent around two years turning these
    raw a cappellas into an electronic dance record.
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    Simultaneously, I was also
    making visuals for it,
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    because I wanted to make
    a virtual reality album.
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    I'm a Millenial with an addiction to
    Instagram and iPhone.
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    I lean into it, use it as material,
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    and try to make it tactile and poignant,
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    and make it feel like skin.
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    It's really loose and not premeditated.
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    In a way, it's like finding
    really beautiful compositions with data language.
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    The exhibit at Pioneer Works is
    embodying my work through different mediums,
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    including sculpture, video,
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    performance, and 3D animation.
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    I was exploring how to make
    a sculpture world out of digital space.
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    There are four cabinets that
    explore different themes
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    that I have unmasked over the years:
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    Sports,
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    American dream paraphernalia,
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    money,
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    and pharmaceuticals.
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    And so basically, it's just an abstract reaction
    to that culture.
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    --It makes me feel like a video game character.
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    --Like you could just play me and I walk around,
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    --like a third-person Lara Croft shooter or
    something.
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    --Oh my god, this is annoying.
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    If you're doing everything by yourself,
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    you don't know what it potentially can be.
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    The potential of big ideas being
    delegated to a team
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    that manifests something much greater
    than the individual hand.
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    Coming here a lot and talking to the builders,
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    curating the puzzle pieces
    that were on the floor,
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    it's pushed me over the edge sometimes.
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    It involved a lot of self reflection
    and self discovery,
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    and a lot of self discipline.
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    Working with the people here
    made me step up my game a little bit more.
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    I've never been more excited about what new
    potential forms I can crack through.
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    [MAN]
    --You're talking talking about the
    original renderings, right?
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    [SATTERWHITE]
    --Yeah.
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    --Oh, it is the right color.
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    In the past ten years of my career,
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    I've just been making things very open-endedly,
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    using palettes from everywhere.
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    I've been drawing the Doubting Thomas composition
    using myself as all the figures
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    since I was in high school,
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    which basically narrates the story of
    Jesus's resurrection
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    and skepticism around his mortality.
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    The ultimate metaphor about the piece is
    using ritual as a way to ground you.
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    Like touching something that
    you're skeptical about
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    to ground you that it's real.
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    So making art, for me, is just a way
    to ground me,
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    that I'm real.
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    [RECORDED AUDIO OF SATTERWHITE'S MOTHER]
    ♪ Tell me how could it be, ♪
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    ♪ I don't know whatever. ♪
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    ♪ How did I get here in this place? ♪
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    ♪ Tell me how could it be, ♪
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    ♪ I don't know whatever. ♪
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    ♪ How did I end up in this way? ♪
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    [SATTERWHITE]
    Having a public practice that
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    circulates in galleries and museums
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    is vulnerable because you're
    publicly archiving yourself
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    in ways that you may not feel
    are flattering in the future.
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    It's a masochistic performance gesture,
    to say the least.
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    Successfully creating is the art of
    being willing to embarrass yourself.
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    I took that to heart.
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    God, I was just being embarrassing for a decade!
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    [LAUGHS]
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    [RECORDED AUDIO OF SATTERWHITE'S MOTHER]
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    My mother's death three years ago
    had a huge impact on me.
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    It really brought in the act of
    ritual a lot more,
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    and made me focus on themes of
    regeneration, healing, and resurrection.
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    Art became a form of escapism
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    for me to reroute my personal traumas.
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    And now I think I'm trying to pursue something
    more...
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    ...present.
    More mindful.
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    Trying to search for where
    home is for me now.
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    Trying to get to the core of who I am.
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    [RECORDED AUDIO OF SATTERWHITE'S MOTHER]
    ♪ We will go on ♪
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    ♪ to another place in time. ♪
Title:
The Incredulity of Jacolby Satterwhite | Art21 "New York Close Up"
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Art21
Project:
"New York Close Up" series
Duration:
08:49

English subtitles

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