September 2008
My current work originates at the intersection of faith and religious alienation where reverence and sacrilege collide and ramify. In this location, rich with mystery and conflict, history and heresy, theory and practice, I make my creative lab and endeavor to investigate, to make sense, and to make meaning. Conflict is a powerful creative force in my life. The deeper the conflict feels to me, the greater the friction. The more friction I feel, the more energy I have, and when I harness that energy creatively – it can be transforming.
Mysticism, prayer, consciousness, imagination, and the future of God are key among my abiding interest areas. I am increasingly interested in and amazed by the transforming nature of autobiography and self-representation. I was raised Catholic. I burned a lot of energy well into my adult life trying to hold the conflicts of my childhood religion at bay. When I decided to move toward that conflict with creative intentions – I moved into liminal spaces between childhood and adulthood, between doctrine and discovery, between fear and faith, between the personal and the transpersonal, and I have found myself in a new and profoundly generative dialogue with creativity and spirituality.
I am an interdisciplinary, process- and time-based artist. My creative life first emerged through writing, then acting and directing for the stage along with dance and choreography, then television and film. There is a continuity and congruence in my work through the integration of these disciplines and media, with my fields of interest and research. In my creative practice I am most passionate in employing the moving image, sound design, installation, and writing. I write for the page, the stage, and the screen; fiction and creative nonfiction. The recorded word is often central to my work. I work extensively with video: directing, shooting, editing, and scoring sound or silence frame-by-frame. My work has been exhibited internationally on 35mm and 16mm film, on video, DVD, TV, and online; in commercial movie theaters, performing arts venues, spirituality centers, film festivals, and galleries. - Marilyn Freeman
