In the inaugural episode of the season, we present an interview with ⁠Shannon Castor⁠. Shannon is a versatile artist who works in film, photography, oil, and acrylic painting. What makes Shannon stand out is her passion for long-distance running, which provides a distinctive perspective to study the essence of a place, the nuances of perception, and the harmony of nature.

Artist Statement ​

Running is an amplified phenomenological discipline. It is high voltage, 4D cinema. At times, it is wading through figurative and physical wind, rain, and hail. It is a mind/body state of curiosity. Internal dwellings awoken by external climates. I sift through the images collecting in my periphery, history, and ask who is watching who? 

Through writing, painting and filmmaking, I seek to understand perspective – how I view myself as an organism within a situated experience, connected to a more-than-human world. I use color, story, sound and pattern to communicate my understandings and re-understandings. My plural palettes of multimedia language are constantly shifting with the light.

Lifeboat

Displacement is a state. A mind state. A physical state. A reaction. A byproduct of something bigger. It could be war, climate, the housing crisis, fear, wanderlust, or job insecurity. It could be a defense mechanism. A person may displace their negative emotions and transfer them onto something unrelated. How often does society focus on the minutia rather than the bigger picture.

My series Lifeboat is an exploration of both the real problem of being physically and mentally displaced - ripped from home - but also the uncanny human ability to deny reality. Through painting I place people in a lifeboat rowing in absurd environments. Taking a boat outside of a body of water, and using the lifeboat specifically, captures the desperation of displacement. But also how denial can, to some degree, be an asset in perseverance. Lifeboat is a nuanced and sometimes humorous portrayal of the searching.

Image courtesy of Shannon Castor.