“How To: Festoon” is where my life as a filmmaker intersects with my job as a conveyor belt salesman. Three years ago, financial need and family obligation forced me to work in my family business – selling conveyor belts. Just as each of us is comprised of many different layers of experiences, “How To: Festoon” is comprised of two layers of film that form my identity. The first layer is a structurally organized account of a Limestone Quarry in which rock from a cliff is collected by a huge tractor and dump truck and processed into small pebbles on a series of crushing machines and conveyor belt systems. The second layer present is of me, at work (or play) within my film installation. I have manipulated, or played, with these images by immersing them into boiling chemicals and rubbing parts of the emulsion away with my fingers. Combining or “bi-packing” these two separate layers offers an overview of how different experiences shape my perspective and overall character. The unstable, eroding images of me at play become masked by the persistent, repetitive nature of a conveyor-belt world. As my life festoons back and forth between these two poles, this film reminds me of how vulnerable my life as an artist is within the daily routines of life. (RB)
