SJ. Ramir
2021The prominent style of his films came from early years of experimentation with custom-made lens filters. These filters enhanced video pixels and produced hazy, distorted images, which Ramir felt were visually suggestive of emotional states connected with a central theme in his work: isolation.
His films have been screened at many prestigious film festivals worldwide, including the 67th Venice International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Melbourne International Film Festival, Jih.lava IDFF and the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival
Gulf Transmission
SJ. Ramir
In GULF TRANSMISSION, video artist SJ Ramir explores the concept of isolation via a journey through both emotional and geographical landscapes. Using visual distortion as a tool, and accompanied by uneasy soundtracks, Ramir creates a world where emptiness and mystery permeate each frame.
Gulf Transmission
Into Daylight
SJ. Ramir
Into Daylight uses geographical landscapes as metaphors, to explore the notion of metaphysical journeys made across landscapes within in the mind. Classic cinematic devices such as short vignettes and slow pans are used in combination with a lulling soundtrack, until a change in atmosphere occurs, and a lone ghost-like silhouette is revealed to be 'making passage' through the mountainous Pass. Produced with the funding from the Screen Innovation Production Fund, a partnership between Creative New Zealand and the NZ Film Commssion.
Into Daylight
Cold Clay, Emptiness...
SJ. Ramir
In Cold Clay, Emptiness... an anonymous figure moves in slow motion through an empty and remote rural environment. The figures journey is intercepted by symbolic images - representing visions of society, memory and need - which are explored, but ultimately rejected, leaving the figure to continue on its quest towards an unknown destination.
Cold Clay, Emptiness...
Taupiri
SJ. Ramir
Taupiri is an exercise in light and pixel manipulation. Using a photographic still of a constructed model cabbage tree and diorama, a custom-made filter was placed in front of a video camera lens and maneuvered to bend and shape the light entering into the camera. The end result is a clustered, kaleidoscope effect of pixels moving like a comet across the screen, and illuminating the original photographic image.
Taupiri
Disquiet
SJ. Ramir
Disquiet uses the movement of an anonymous figure through remote environments, to examine metaphysical journeys that are made through landscapes within the mind. After travelling by foot through a dark, woodland forest, a figure enters into a desolate, desert-like world. Its journey is intercepted by a looming structure – representing visions of society, memory and need – which is explored, but ultimately rejected, leaving the figure to continue on its quest towards an unknown destination.
Disquiet
Our Hands Are Empty
SJ. Ramir
“To understand life is to know that much of it is lived in the dark - there is very little daylight in our understanding or comprehension. To find truth, we need to reach out for it, but most often when we pull our hands back to examine what we have found, our hands are empty…”
Our Hands Are Empty
