Kobayashi_PoorButSex..

+
conflict of interest
SHOWCASE:
poor but sexy 98
“I think the invasion
of privacy
aspect of my work makes it
more compelling to viewers.”
E: Can you briefly describe your approach to filmmaking?
A: I’ve been making short videos, on my own for the most part. So I
play all of the characters in the videos as well as arrange the sets and
locations, make costumes, interpret the script, compose the shots and
then edit the video together. I always like to incorporate some humour
into my videos and a lot of detail in the characters and scenery. Thrift
shopping is a big part of making videos for me since I come across materials that can act as potential narrative for films and collect most of my
costumes and props from secondhand stores. I try as much as possible
to create narratives that the viewer can make sense of from a source
that may not make sense at all. I think that is part of the fun of the development of the scripts, it is somewhat of a problem solving process. I
usually work with some sort of found material, a letter, a discarded answering machine tape, or more recently, the name of a film and video
exhibition collective that invited me to make a video for them. I work
best when I create some sort of formula for myself (like using the audio
of an answering machine tape and creating the video to match it) and
then I can spend the rest of the time imagining characters and how a
storyline can emerge. Depending on the material I work with, I may
need to embody characters that are four years old to a senior citizen
lying in a coffin. There is always a huge range of people that appear in
my videos.
E: Some video artists have crews but you continue to work alone.
Obviously, crews require financial backing, but are there other reasons you prefer to work solo as opposed to a collaborative effort?
A: I have been very fortunate to have really supportive people around
me who help me with panning camera shots, act as a body double,
allow me to film in their personal spaces, not to mention take the time
to discuss my ideas with me. It isn’t a completely solitary experience,
but it isn’t collaborative in the filmic tradition where there is a crew, director and actors.
I think because I made videos in art school I saw work very clearly labelled with: artist, medium, year; there wasn’t really room on the wall
label for names of assistants or helpers, those people are erased from
the process. My solution to this conundrum was to try and do everything myself so I could call it my own.
E: I agree that giving people credit for their work can be a dilemma in
art. But I’ve witnessed some times, usually in the early hours of the
morning, when you become extremely overwhelmed by all of the
tasks you have assigned yourself. The nature of your work makes
people around you feel pretty useless.
A: I get easily distracted when people are around, so it is easier and
more efficient to work alone, particularly at night, when nobody is
awake. But I sincerely enjoy doing all aspects of production: making
and collecting props, setting up shots and performing of course. It does
seem kind of narcissistic to play every single character and to only have
my face appear on the screen, but it has become something of a challenge. I had considered working with a makeup artist before, but I really
poor but sexy 100
did not want to use prosthetics for my characters. Instead I discovered
double-sided tape. It is amazing what you can do with it! And I also appreciate that it is more of a household item and not a specialty makeup
item.
E: Your videos are based on found objects. What makes a story intriguing?
A: I need to feel excited when I read the letter for the first time. Quite
simply, it just has to be an interesting and compelling narrative.
E: Your film Dan Carter is based on a personal answering machine
tape you found in a secondhand store. Do you ever feel a moral
dilemma about invading someone’s privacy?
A: I do feel that Dan Carter is responsible for putting his personal business out into the world due to carelessness. I also think the final videos
are somewhat removed from the original people involved. I think my
process is more imaginative. Although I am working with a real document, I try to interpret it in a creative way.
I haven't tried to be a part of my subjects real lives and stalk them in
any way. The only time I tried to investigate one of the subjects was
when I called Rob Ponds, Dan Carter's marriage preparation counselor
— I got his home answering machine and decided I really didn't want
to go there.
I'm sure that when the subject decides to discard these objects, they
do not expect anyone to pay attention to them as much as I have. I
think the invasion of privacy aspect of the work makes it more compelling to viewers.
E: Why have you not put any of your videos online?
A: I have concerns about how people interpret YouTube content. That it
will just be viewed as a joke instead of being considered in any thoughtful way.
E: But Ryan Trecartin has been very successful at showcasing his
work on YouTube. Isn’t his online success encouraging?
A: I think Ryan Trecartin is a good example of how art can exist on the
internet. He is an incredibly prolific artist, the amount of work he produces is really impressive and the narrative also works well online.
When I am in the process of making my work, I do not imagine it ending
up on YouTube. Also, on the internet, the viewer has all of the control.
The viewer can stop what they are watching or surf websites while the
video is playing. It’s a distracted viewing experience. It would be nice to
make a piece that is designed specifically for online. It is like making an
album for CD versus vinyl, and considering that it has a side A and side
B or has to fit on a 70-minute compact disc.
E: When you started making videos, you didn’t have any option except to use our family’s Handycam that gave your videos a grainy,
ABOVE:
ALISON KOBAYASHI IN CHARACTER AS ‘LOVER’
FROM THE SHORT FILM, DAN CARTER.
poor but sexy 101
DIY aesthetic. What do you think about HD cameras?
A: Our family’s Handycam was the most amateur of video equipment
but I think the low-fi aesthetic really suits the content of the letter. My
film From Alex to Alex in HD would be bizarre to me. But on the other
hand, a lot of detail is lost using a Handycam so I can appreciate the
quality of HD. Consumer technology is constantly evolving; soon all
cameras will be HD, so my work will be affected by this shift.
E: You often dress up as men in your videos. What was your first experience dressing up in drag?
A: My first drag performance was in a high school production of Auntie
Mame. We both attended a performing arts high school that was very
WASP-y and the play called for a male Japanese butler character
named Ito. The only Asian male in the drama department didn’t audition, so, by default, I was awarded the role. The Ito experience would
be a perfect lesson on how to perform a racial stereotype in the most
offensive way. My main line was something like, “Missy Mame, Missy
Mame!” It was a completely offensive and regrettable theatrical debut.
The only good thing that came out of it was that it introduced me to
performing in drag.
E: I remember that role and how you flirted with method acting,
never breaking character and constantly speaking in other accents
and voices around the house.
A: I think my highest mark in high school drama was when I wrote and
directed myself performing the life story of Liza Minnelli in five minutes.
I took the project really seriously and got Liza’s Studio 54 - era haircut
and danced around the house for a month singing “Mein Herr” from
Cabaret.
E: Oddly, I remember dressing up like Dorothy and doing a presentation about Judy Garland in grade seven. We both really adored
gay icons in our youth, without realizing their popularity within the
queer community. I have noticed the LGBT community has embraced your video From Alex to Alex. Why do you think the video
struck a chord with a queer audience?
A: From Alex to Alex is a pretty typical teenage love story that explores
confusion and pining after a schoolmate. It is based on a love letter I
found on the QEW overpass in Mississauga and is from one 14-yearold boy to another teenage boy. Alex’s family doesn’t accept his sexuality. In the letter, Alex quotes his brother saying, “All homos should be
shot”. Even though he is comfortable with his sexuality, he has to keep
it a secret because he does not have support from his family.
A: Yes, I think it is empowering. I don’t want to subscribe to a singular
identity because it can be restrictive. One identity does not allow fluidity
and growth. I think my work requires a lot of flexibility and I want to refrain from being didactic. I also think that we are fortunate to be living
in a time when sexuality can be more ambiguous.
E: You’ve always come across as ambiguous, even as a teenager.
When you would dress up to go to school, your style would reference girls and boys. I think not subscribing or perhaps committing
to one identity is empowering for an artist because it allows the
viewer to walk away from the piece with their own conclusions and
ideas about the artist. But I also think our background, being mixed,
has contributed to our ambiguity. For example, you’ve been invited
to screen your work at festivals that celebrate Asian filmmaking and
art. Do you identify as Asian?
A: I do. It’s funny, when I met Sylvia Schedelbauer, a super talented
half-Japanese half-German filmmaker, at the Flaherty Film Seminar in
New York, we bonded pretty quickly about our mixed identities. She
was born in Japan and I was born in Mississauga, Canada, yet she
said that I had several Japanese mannerisms. She mentioned a term
“halvsie”, meaning half Japanese and half something else, and I had
never heard of it before. I know the word “Hapa” also exists but I don’t
think I relate to either term.
E: Yeah, “Hapa” is Hawaiian slang and I feel like it is a very foreign
term that I can’t relate to as well.
A: I don’t think it is especially helpful to have a single word to illustrate
“what I am,” it seems like it has more potential to be derogatory than
descriptive. It is kind of a confusing topic, because when you and I
went to Japan together, it was naïve to think that I would have experienced an overwhelming sense of the “return to the motherland”. I
loved our time in Japan and found it very inspiring but didn’t feel an immediate sense of belonging.
E: I think going to Japan made us realize how far from Japanese we
were. Unlike Toronto, Japan is so homogeneous that foreigners immediately stick out. In Toronto, I feel it is easier to blend into most
neighbourhoods and different ethnic groups.
E: You recently got married, but I get the impression some people
automatically assume you are gay because of your work’s subject
matter and its strong presence in queer film festivals, exhibitions
and critical writing.
A: I can understand why people make that assumption. Usually people
make work about their own identities. When you see queer characters
in heteronormative Hollywood films, they are usually cast as the gay
E: Mixed people are constantly asked to identify who they are to
strangers. I think this parallels how filmmakers have to be classified
in order to fit into a film festival. Have you ever been surprised with
A: Yes, the video plays with drag, identity, dressing up and performing.
I think the video also resonates in the gay community because there is
a strong history of performance and gender play in queer art and queer
culture.
poor but sexy 102
E: Do you think it is empowering to have an ambiguous identity?
A: Now that I am spending more time in New York, I think the divisions
between people are more pronounced. I feel a greater sense of segregation among different ethnic groups. I really took Toronto and Mississauga for granted. I had an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Mississauga
and had to run to Square One mall with Christopher (Alison’s husband)
to pick up an adapter for one of my videos. It was a Saturday afternoon, so naturally Square One was packed with people shopping and
eating at the food court. It was Christopher’s first time at Square One,
and he was not only totally overwhelmed by the amount of cultural diversity but also by the fact that everyone was wearing the Gap, drinking Starbucks and looked middleclass. He thought it was one vision of
the future.
E: The video also employs drag.
ABOVE:
ALISON KOBAYASHI IN CHARACTER AS ‘PERCY’ FROM
THE SHORT FILM, DO GOOD.
best friend and used for comic relief. More often than not, when this
stereotype is challenged, you’ll find it is because the filmmaker is
queer.
poor but sexy 103
“When I film in
public there is
an assumption
that I am mentally ill.”
any film festivals or exhibitions you have been included in?
A: I’ve been programmed in a diverse range of festivals that highlight a
different aspect of my work every time, whether it is feminist, queer,
Asian, experimental, a short film or being new work from a young artist.
I’ve learned a lot about my work from other people’s interpretations of
it and what types of festivals or exhibitions it has been included in. The
year I was invited to show my films at the Flaherty, the theme was immigration. I remember someone in the audience asked, “What does
this have to do with immigration?” I think the curator, Chi-hui Yang,
was approaching the theme in a more imaginative and less literal way.
My films dealt more with issues of identity, which is an aspect of immigration, but do not portray people physically crossing borders — it
wasn't spelled out for the audience, let's say.
E: Do you think being lighter skinned, female, thin or mixed gives
you an advantage with how much you can convincingly transform
yourself?
A: I think everyone can transform themselves in different ways. A lot of
it has to do with camera angle and composition in addition to costumes and cosmetics. By manipulating the camera, I can make myself
look taller, thinner or accentuate something like a double chin. I think
the camera quality being grainy adds another layer that masks my original identity.
E: I noticed in your latest video Pleasure Dome, you are playing
more with the idea of ethnic drag. A lot of your characters never
speak but are spoken for and they remain visual representations.
How do you avoid ethnic and racial stereotyping with your characters?
and the danger of potentially offending my audience. The final decision
to portray Jacquie as a Black woman is not a comment on blackface
or trying to refer to that history.
It would seem unnatural to limit how I imagine my characters because
of a racist history. I also think it would be weird to play every other ethnicity but discount Black identity. Why would I want to overlook Black
characters?
E: You often have to film yourself in public dressed up in a costume.
Do you feel self-conscious? How do people react to you?
A: When I film in public, I think there is an assumption that I am mentally ill. When I am running around a park dressed up and acting as a
four-year-old, some people might find that behaviour… odd. It can be
awkward in the moment, but in retrospect, it’s kind of hilarious. As I
continue making videos, I am taking more risks in terms of shooting on
location and not filming in the privacy of my home.
E: In your twenties, you are playing toddlers and school children. In
fact, I think some of your best and most convincing characterizations are of children, like the Brownies in DO GOOD. As you get
older, do you consider limitations and difficulty you may run into trying to appear child-like onscreen?
A: I do, actually. It’s something I will have to deal with as I get older.
Aging is something everyone has to deal with. My face will get thinner,
my skin will loosen and sag, but maybe I’ll be able to tape it in new and
exciting ways to create characters.
E: Is it easier to play older or younger people?
A: I have always featured ethnic characters in my videos, they may just
seem more apparent in recent works. Playing stereotypes is just boring. Stereotypes are predictable and unimaginative. I try to create
depth in the development of all of my characters. Their ethnicity usually
comes out of how I imagine the character when I go through the material I am working from, whether that is a letter or answering machine
tape.
A: Both are equally bizarre. Both ages can be difficult to play but
also really fun. I always looked forward to playing the four-year-old
in Dan Carter and I loved playing Percy in DO GOOD because both
characters required little makeup. I think, with those characters, I
focused more on body language and movement. With elderly characters, I focus more on posture and subtle mannerisms because they
are more restricted and rigid in movement.
Since my videos are usually narrated or, in the case of Dan Carter,
where the audio comes from the answering machine tape, there isn’t
room for impersonations of my characters’ voices. I think one signifier
of a stereotypical performance is a really exaggerated accent. In Dan
Carter, you hear the person’s real voice.
E: Can early success be crippling?
E: In Period 4L, based on a letter found in Buffalo, you portrayed the
babysitter as a Black woman. Considering the racist history of
blackface, why did you decide to make the character Black?
A: Well, I originally imagined the character, Jacquie, as a Black woman,
but I hesitated because I was aware of the implications of blackface
poor but sexy 104
A: When I was 21, I received a lot of attention for From Alex to Alex
and Dan Carter. My reaction was to freeze up, and I didn’t make any
new video work between late 2006 and 2007. I didn’t come across
any materials that I felt were compelling enough to work with, and I
spent a lot of time wondering if I should do something different or keep
using the same formula. I was doing other work in performance and
installation. I feel like I have been getting back into the habit of working
on video projects more lately. It is very exciting to get out of creative
blocks.
poor but sexy 105