Maile Colbert | USA

Maile Colbert (USA) is a filmmaker, video, and sound artist currently working in Los Angeles, California. She holds a BFA in The Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art, and a MFA in Integrated Media/Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts. She has had multiple screenings, exhibits, and shows, including The New York Film Festival, LACE Gallery, MOMA New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles, The Portland International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, and a two-week multi-media tour in Japan.

http://www.myspace.com/colbertmaile

Project: Over the Eyes
Category: Video, Sound Art
Period: October 2007
Event: Art Residency

Our sense of identity, of who we are and what we have done, is tied to our life of memory.  But a vivid and detailed memory may be based upon inaccurate reconstruction of facts, or self-created impressions that appear to have actually occurred. Continuity of memory is no guarantee of truth; disruption of memory is no guarantee of falsity.  Memory is believed to be a reconstructed phenomenon, and so can be strongly influenced by expectation, emotions, the implied beliefs of others, inappropriate interpretation, or desired outcome. Is the measure of a life well lived based on the quality of memories?

Then what of missing memory?  Of a trauma that forces the memory into repression, or forces a disassociation, or a false memory…invented memories taken as true due to gaps in memory.

“Over The Eyes”, inspired by the old saying…”to pull the wool over the eyes”, is a multimedia installation proposed to be made in October 2007 for a residency based in Nodar, Portugal.

My desire is to create an environment that, using all of the senses, provokes the viewer into thought and contemplation about the mystery of memory.  One of Nodar’s main industries is wool. I will talk with local people about the process of sheep shearing and weaving, recording the conversations.  This will be incorporated into the sound design of the installation, along with field recordings of the area, and text on physiological, biological, and psychological aspects to memory creation and destruction in humans.  For the environment, I plan to purchase local wool in which I will weave and felt to create a structure of “gray matter”, much like our minds. 

Within these passages will be projected images of found home movies, discarded recorded “memories” from thrift stores and junk yards, methodically being erased by a super-imposed act of sheep shearing.

1. Video conceived for one of the public presentatons:

2. Complete script for "Over the Eyes"

On a book cover, drop a single drop of water…tilt the book and let the drop flow a stream. Right the book, then drop another drop of water in the same place as the former. Tilt the book in a different direction…the drop will still flow in the prior created stream.

Please tell me a story…

My family still teases me to this day for stating as a child that I clearly remember holding my older brother as a baby on my lap. The memory is still very real to me.

Continuity of memory is no guarantee of truth; disruption of memory is no guarantee of falsity.
Confabulation…invented memories taken as true due to gaps in memory sometimes associated with blackouts.
Episodic memory…used for personal memories sensations, emotions, personal associations of a particular place or time.

Our sense of identity, of who we are and what we have done is tied to our memories…our community is tied to our storytelling.

…wait…did I already say that…
Tell me a story…

When young, when younger…I applied hot hand to dry eye, in a fist. Red rush and bright…a bright no light bright. A flock of blue and ragged yellow…came to order, come to passage, of whatever came to mind.

Memory is believed to be a reconstructed phenomenon, and so can be strongly influenced by expectation…one's own or other people's. Emotions, the implied beliefs of others, inappropriate interpretation or desired outcome…
Some false memories are formed through "rehearsal", or repetition of an event that has been confirmed as fantastic…repeatedly thought and visualized, a person may "remember" as if it actually occurred.

..wait..did I already say that…

False Memory Syndrome…a state of mind where sufferers have a high number of vivid but false memories. Victims experience dissociation, causing repression of traumatic memory until later in life. A vivid and detailed memory may be based upon inaccurate reconstruction of facts, or self-created impressions that appear to have occurred. The amygdale has been shown involved in forming emotional memories, especially fear related.

Please tell me a story…

In the myth of the Golden Fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallas, Jason and his band of Argonauts set out for a quest for the Golden Fleece in order to place Jason on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. The story dates pre 8c BCE and survives in many different forms. All existent interpretations greatly post facto suffering from very incomplete knowledge of the culture in which it rose.

Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in which certain thoughts, emotions, sensations, or memories are separate from the rest of the psyche.

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Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in which certain memories are separate from the rest of the psyche.
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Dissociation is a is a psychological state or condition in which certain thoughts, emotions, sensations, or or condition in which certain thoughts, emotions, sensations, or memories are separate from the rest of the psyche.
Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in of the psyche.
Dissociation is a psychological state or condition in which certain or memories are separate from the rest of the psyche.
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Wait…let me tell you a story…

The first case of psychological distress was reported in 1900 BCE by an Egyptian who described a "hysterical" reaction to trauma.
Symptoms can include general restlessness, insomnia, aggressiveness, depression, dissociation, emotional detachment, and nightmares. A potential symptom is memory loss about an aspect of the traumatic event. This can lead to dissociation…another defense that includes a variety of symptoms, including feelings of depersonalization and derealization, disconnection between memory and affect so that the person is "in another world"…and, in extreme forms, can involve apparent multiple personalities and acting without any memory…(loosing time).

Wait…did I already say that?

Please tell me a story…

We have left our elders up in the mountains, and down in the islands. Town without youth, you let your children go. Community divided, your rivers carved my past, my roads could pave your river. Mechanical birds tricked your child's memory; it's Siren song replacing your history. A blank page can be so dangerous. The river on each side laughed at weak, forced tears…dry sand offering.

However…different people will react differently to similar event. One person may perceive an event to be traumatic that another may not.

However...different people will react differently to similar event. One person may perceive an event to be traumatic that another may not.
However...different people will react differently to that another may not.
However...different people will react differently to similar event. One person may perceive an event to be traumatic that another may not.
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However...different people will react differently to similar event. One person person may perceive an event to be traumatic that another may not.
However...different people will react differently to similar event. One person may perceive an event to be traumatic that will react differently to similar event. One person may perceive an event to be traumatic that another may not.

It is a common experience that human memory may be unreliable to some degree, whether by failing to remember at all, or by remembering incorrectly. Our sense of identity, of who we are and what we have done, is linked to our memories…and it can be disturbing to have these challenged. Memory is a complicated process, only partly understood. Research suggests that the qualities of memory do not in and of themselves provide a reliable way to determine accuracy.

And what can I offer you? Between us all waters and history and generation and culture and language…the desire for a sense of your history, and fill me with story and a sense of my own. I feel your age, your place. Romantic…and what could I give you?
I want to weave myself within your vines, stain my memory with the color of your wine. Would you tell me a story…could that act be a mutual gift?
We have lost our sense of a memory deeper and longer then ourselves.

Where are the young in your village?

Why did I leave you mid-sentence…