Originally from New Jersey and New York, I now live and work in Chicago. My films focus on marginalized, social outcasts with their own sub cultures. These fringe characters provide a focal point for my concerns with diaspora, post humanism, gender, and the loss of touch in an overwhelmingly visual world. Animation provides a psychic home. A kind of dollhouse in which to problem solve. It is also a practice in empathy. In this internal sense of place I seek a kind of alternative reality for myself through my characters. In re-enacting their dilemmas they (and therefore I) experience beauty and joy. A joy derived from the darkest of darks, juxtaposed with the lightest of lights: What Mike Kelly terms “negative joy.” Formally and narratively I create a space in which the characters can experience life at its most extreme, what interests me most. My films have shown at various festivals internationally including The New York Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, The Chicago Underground Film Festival, Kerry Film Festival, Japan Media Arts Festival, Sene, Boston International Film Festival, Atlanta Underground Film Festival, and others.
Laura Harrison
Studios
Banks
Laura Harrison worked in the Banks studio.
Banks, an ell on the north end of the Lodge dormitory, was first used as an artist’s studio in 1970. Since then, it has played host to an extraordinary list of writers working in several disciplines. In all seasons, Fellows have enjoyed the pastoral view through the French doors facing a field…