MARS for Kresge Arts in Detroit
“Can you help me with recording my artist salon thing for Kresge?” -MARS (January 4, 2022)
They were named a 2021 Kresge Fellow for Literary Arts (prestigious, I know), and after engaging in workshops, receiving mentorship, and getting a beautiful film made by Na Forest Lim, the whole experience culminated in a series of virtual presentations and discussions with the awardees. This is what led to this January 4th text.
The answer rang clearly in my mind: OF COURSE!
It’s always an honor to use my skills in service of the people I am so proud of and care deeply for; this side project with my older sibling, the poet known as MARS, was the perfect opportunity to kick off the year right.
Since they appreciate a plan as much as I do, we nailed down the details in a shared document. The video was to be around 10 minutes long. For the length of time, the challenge was earning the attention of the viewers for the entire presentation; with that in mind, we settled on a format centered around key questions that would allow MARS to concisely share their personality and work. We opened and closed with readings of their poetry.
The idea phase is when I’m feeling my most ambitious—so, I come out and say it: I’d love to animate the poems.
MARS was completely on board it and agreed that it would be a great addition to the video. There was one snag: we only had until March 1st to make it all happen. They were a great partner in this and challenged me to simplify where necessary and be mindful of my capacity to execute our plan in the time we had. The form of the animated portions considers our constraints through a limited palette and roughly blocked shapes.
As mentioned above, we bookended the main content of the video with poetry. So what was done with the second poem? For Ode to Feeding My Homies, we opted for handwritten words and phrases, abandoning illustration entirely. Since I had a collaborator who was constantly asking me to reevaluate the scope to fit my capacity and how much time remained, I had the spaciousness to make this compromise. I’m incredibly grateful for the flexibility and communication that Mars and me were able to have throughout this process.
We made something beautiful out of what was available to us and I’m very proud. It was a reminder that a finished piece contains multitudes. It is molded by more than your ideals, but your resources, concrete goals, and collaborators. We could make this video again and it would be different because our circumstances are so different now, in September 2022.
I encourage you to check out MARS’ work because it is beautiful! They also have a book coming out soon through Gold Line Press. See the complete video below!
Presentation by MARS as part of the 2022 Kresge Artist Salon Series featuring Kresge Arts in Detroit 2021 fellows.