Floria Sigismondi

Michael Robinson

[RS Gallery] • The multi-disciplinary work of Floria Sigismondi encompasses film, video, photography, and installations. Using images derived from hallucinatory dream-states she blends it all in a theatrical and poetic manner for both the commercial and art worlds.

MR: What's your personal mantra?

FS: In order to find ourselves we must destroy ourselves.

What does the role of the Artist mean to you?

To pose questions that offer alternate ways of looking at things and situations. My overall direction can change through time, but the quest for personal truth is the reason I create. To create with no self-censorship. I learn more about myself through creating. It doesn't matter what medium really. Take it all away and I will draw in the sand with a stick.

What is the driving force behind your creativity?

Passion has always filled my art... to be able to translate my feelings and emotions into celluloid. I was made to create and have dedicated my life to it as far back as I remember. I learned passion from my father, who at 82 is still an opera singer with unwavering dedication.

What transformative experiences have influenced your life and how has that manifested in your work?

The birth of my daughter in October 2004. Making a human has been the biggest, rewarding and challenging thing I've ever done – my most personal work. I've learned a lot from her – of mortality and how fragile life is. She forces me to live in the present. I look at simple things with complex questions, which is a refreshing way to look at life when everything around us can look so dark.

How long does it take you on average to complete a piece of work, and do you ever do several pieces simultaneously?

It varies depending on the intensity of the project. Sometimes an hour. Sometimes it takes years. I am always working on projects simultaneously. A music video takes me an average of three to four weeks to complete for instance.

Why should people check out your work?

I look at the world through the eyes of an outsider, so I see beauty in unexpected places. I like to challenge what the idea of beauty is - to offer alternatives to the corporate ones, which are very narrow and by some strange incarnation have become part of this countries' culture.

How does your work affect Consciousness, and what are your views on the evolution of consciousness?

I think the planet as a whole is becoming more conscious – conscious of who we are, how we effect the earth, the people around us. I definitely think there is a large power at work, numbing feelings and awareness through media and pharmaceuticals but I believe we are stronger than they are. We must take our power back and realize we are many, they are few. Will is stronger than money.