Informed by Eastern philosophy and psychological theory, White’s work has been called “a magical act”
Using stylized gestures used as a mode of ritualistic format and screen performance, White’s modus operandi is often an exploration on the subject of relationships of power and repression; often drawing from historic or ancient stories re-contextualized into meditations on the world in which we live and the ramifications of inaction and stagnation. Studies at the Pennsylvania Academy’s painting program, influence an editing technique akin to “automatic” writing.
ESSAY FILMS — EXPERIMENTAL DOCUMENTARY
2020
GRANDMOTHER’S MIRROR – Work in Progress; TRT: 14.13; My uncle Buddy died, a few years after the flu epidemic, from whooping cough in 1924. He was 15 months old. This devastated his mother and had repercussions for the rest of the family. And so, with today’s new global COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve employed this footage, shot and gathered some ago, as a meditation on 2020. It’s said that one cannot understand something unless one experiences it. I see this time as a rare gift, that will change the world, hopefully for better. We have been given a great pause to re-set our course.
2018
HANDWASHING (for the Kurds); 1.42 minutes; Washing to become free of guilt.
2017
A PHILADELPHIA STORY; shot with GO-Pro Silver, I phone, mini DV; 4.27 minutes
Based on a story about a rape that happened in PHILADELPHIA in the early 1980’s.
DREAMS TRUMP; 13.36 minutes
Research shows that Hitler, a diagnosed hysteric, and Donald Trump share similar behaviors. Historic and media photos rhythmically play against the phrases, “dreams – trump – Hitler’s – power”, “Trump – dreams – Hitler’s – power”, “dreams – trump – power” . Included are personal anecdotes and excerpts from CG Jung’s AFTER THE CATASTROPHE, which speaks of Germany’s situation in WWII, that can happen anywhere, and any time. Even now.
2016
A PHILADELPHIA STORY; TRT: 4.27 On a PHILADELPHIA rape circa 1980.
Included in Austria’s ARTFEM TV collection, https://artfem.tv/short_film_movie_2/ curator: Evelin Stermitz
2014
FOOL’S GOLD : CALIFORNIA ROADTRIP IN AN ELECTION YEAR; 01:15:44 minutes
This film received a NYSCA Finishing Funds Grant for a professional sound mix.
A thought pattern collage regarding the subject of “greed”.
The film intertwines: personal accounts by surviving residents from TRONA CALIFORNIA, once wealthy Californian mining town turned into a mineral corporation; the Biblical story of CAIN & ABEL; Michael Jackson’s dancing Zombies; and commentaries by Dr. Theodore Dimon, Jr. of the DIMON INSTITUTE and Marta & Frank Russo, curators of the horror theme based M/F GALLERY
Environs include the 20 mile long SEARLES salt LAKE; China Lake Navel Base, the Chevlon Steps; PINNACLES National Monument, Death Valley; and NY’s 9/11 Memorial site.
2010
The KITCHEN SINK; 11:24 minutes
Our FOOD situation: a smorgasbord of agricultural facts and stories— Moon Goddess Diana, poppy plants, oil production, Monsanto, war in the Middle East— that stretch between humor and horrific reality.
THE OCTOPUS; 5:54 minutes
Paul the psychic octopus who predicted the WORLD CUP winners, Native American dancers, the myth of Cassandra (who foretells the future and is never believed), eco-destruction
STUFF of our DREAMS; Kodachrome Super 8/ digi Video; 3:33 minutes
flamingos, TV game shows winning dollars and American cars and the Gulf Oil Disaster
2009
S/tr:w/EET WALK; NTSC – 18:51 minutes / PAL version – 20:32 minutes
Lyrical, atmospheric, mini-epic: a ‘response’ to Kathryn Maguire’s quest for collaboration. Shoes found on a Liffey quay that was a prostitute’s walk and houses a horse fair, take on a life of their own as they travel though Ireland, NYC, South Carolina and Savannah Georgia. Voiceover references about Civil War facts, a Cinderella fairy tale, feminist takes on eroticism & pornography, a personal narrative, views about public sculpture and various literary excerpts (Flannery O’Connor’s WISE BLOOD ) connect intuitively, with associations reminiscent of a dream state.
2007
WESTERN; Sound: voiceover doc reportage. Margot Niederland; 11.09 or 13.21 minute versions
The American morality tale about law & order; with voiceover from a woman who disguised herself as an Israeli soldier. Featuring a motel room, appropriated images from Western TV shows and movies; Tombstone AZ (the historic site of the shoot out at the OK corral) and NYCity.
2014
David Medalla: CLOUD CANYONS 11/6/14; Sound; shot with I phone camera; 12.12 minutes
Artist David Medalla at his CLOUD CANYONS exhibit in NYC, on 11/6/14, reads his prose poem, THE BUBBLE MACHINE
2013
MIXED UP with LIFE: COLEEN FITZGIBBON; 7.02 minutes
Fitzgibbon talks about her films and reminiscences on days in NYC’s Lower East Side during the 1970-80’s, with it’s decay, drug trafficking, and the beginnings of the AIDS crisis.
2005-6
NY(see) Sound; 68.00 minutes
What does it mean to be an artist-immigrant in NYC after 9/11; with the whole world is on the verge of major change? “the artist” archetype and mood of diaspora conveyed thru three immigrant artists, Mara Wave, John Spinks, Kim Su Theiler. Straddles the borders of city-symphony, documentary and experimental diary film.
2001
TRAVELING with NEPTUNE: PORTRAIT of my FATHER; 8.00 minutes
White’s father describes his experiences as a WWII US Navy Radioman, as witness to the Bikini Bomb Tests; undergoing the “Initiation into the Kingdom of Neptune” (the hazing ritual for all sailors).
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INSTALLATION WORK
2020
SPACE ROOM; 4.14 minutes – (unrealized)
As the Black Death’s impact led to the birth of the Renaissance, perhaps our current great transition is at a crossroads of major development.
2018
WHITE HANDS — looped installation 1.20 minutes – (unrealized)
Washing hands, over and over again, to become free of guilt.
2014
THE SOLDIER’S DREAM — a 2 room Installation using 3D: 15 minutes – (unrealized)
Based on a case study: a German soldier came to a Berlin clinic in WWII because he lost the ability to see color.
2010
WHAT CAN’T YOU SEE? ; 4.22 minutes
Glitch caused magic shown in an old box TV, with surrounding assemblage;
GOT’CHA; 4.31 minutes
Video loop on box TV set with collaged intermediate frame; WHOSE AFRAID Of ORNAMENT?; Curator: Natasha Kurchanova; NURTURE ARTS; Brooklyn NY
2009
TURQUOISE BEADS; Sound; BUSHMEAT; 16.10 minutes
Video projected on assembled objects; Vision Festival; NY
2007
STANDING UPRIGHT; Silent; 5.00 minutes
Painting/Video environment for dancer Gus Solomons Jr;
Commissioned by Patricia Nicholson Parker for A STATE OF MIND dance; Vision Festival; NY NY
2006
AMERICAN DIASPORA; 6.00 minutes
video projected onto painting; AMERICAN DIASPORA: TRANSFORMATIONS IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY; Curator: Keungsuk Kim Sexton; Victory Hall; Jersey City NJ
5 ELEMENTS; EARTH, WATER, WOOD, FIRE; Sound; various running times.
Distinct qualities from nature presented metaphorically
en INVIERNO; 5.39 minutes
A cinematic reference, phantasmagorical snow storm outside the childhood suburban home hint at future loss.
BALLOON GARDEN; Silent; TRT. 6.30; Curator: Jersey City Museum: curator: Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, Ph.D
A balloon travels with abstracted patterns of water
2005
MY SPACE; 6.27 minutes; Performance of a triad figure; poetic voiceover
CLOUDGATE; Silent; 3.07 minutes
Designed to be projected onto skin of a skyscraper or city sidewalk; Presented as outdoor projection at ART IN ODD PLACES during the LES’s HOWL Festival; Curator: Ed Woodham; host: The Phatory LLC; East Village NY; Clouds mate through a sky fence
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EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
2024
THE LAST TRAIN; TRT: 5.36
2023
walk in JANU S ary; TRT: 15.44
2022
THE COLOR OF WIND; TRT: 2.32
2021
from the I CHING’s HOUSE of MOUNTAIN
#38: Diverging Oppositions
#10: Walk in Step
#61: Centering
#53: Step by Step
for the I Ching’s HOUSE of WATER: #49: HIDE (new sound mix)
2020
From the I Ching’s House of MOUNTAIN:
#22 ELEGANCE, ADORNMENT; TRT: 7.00
#26 CONTAINING THE POWER OF THE GREAT; TRT: 6.29
#41 DIMINISHING; TRT: 2.24
2019
from the I CHING’s HOUSE of MOUNTAIN series: #52 MOUNTAIN mountain; TRT: 3.58
2017 – 19
THE HOUSE of WATER – 8 films based in hexagrams of the I CHING:
#29 ABYSS: PIT: the dangerous: TRAP; 5.15 minutes
#60 NOTCH: measure: LIMIT: ARTICULATING the CROSSINGs: interval; 8.56 minutes
#3: SPROUT; 6.19 minutes
#63: COMPLETION (WHITE VERSION); 4.09 minutes
#63: COMPLETION (BLACK VERSION); 3.55 minutes
#49: HIDE: molting:: revolution: change; 4.38 minutes
#55: CITADEL: CANOPY: ABUNDANCE: ZENITH; 4.10 minutes
#36: DARKNESS; 10:30 minutes
# 7: COLLECTIVE FORCE/ ARMY; 9.55 minutes
I CHING TRIGRAM: MOUNTAIN BOUND; 3:38 minutes
I CHING TRIGRAM: LAKE MIST; 5:21 minutes
2017
REDSHIFT; 1.47 minutes
definition: the displacement of spectral lines toward longer wavelengths (the red end of the spectrum) in radiation from distant galaxies and celestial objects. This is interpreted as a Doppler shift that is proportional to the velocity of recession and thus to distance
SISTER of WISDOM; 9:53 minutes
Camera: Lili White; Marc Silverman; TEXT by: HILDEGARD of BINGEN; 12 speaker surround sound MUSIC: Dalia With; VOCAL: Gisburg; PRODUCED at: NYC’s HARVESTWORKS
2015 – 17
TRILOGY: TRT: 14.03 minutes
I SNAKE-FOOT; Silent; 5.18
I remembered the Egyptians have a letter that combines a snake and foot.
In Nature, a performance meditation on a real-life event of an “S” found on my toe
II-WATER WORKS; 4.20
Humans are around 90% water, that element, now in jeopardy, that nourishes the planet’s growth. It exists in 3 different forms: gas, liquid, and ice. Also, when as a mutable element, it glides us to dreams.
III CUMIA; 4.35
In a cave in the land of the sibyl communication can occur between the living and the dead
2016
OVerTURE EnD ing; 8.00 minutes
Time forces and the aging feminine body.
2013
TOUCH ME REACH ME; Silent; 1.37 minutes
On the sense of touch: Touching is the process of recognizing objects using exploratory procedures; the hand toying with the ribbon here senses electromagnetism in its surrounding environs; which is given an image of prickly needle-like shapes that mirror the hand’s gestural action
2012
PRECEDING DARKNESS; Sound: Fslux; B&W & Color in 3D using red/cyan glasses; 3.23 minutes
Attempting to subjugate society’s current ongoing malaise, repeating sounds and a camera roving over a bleak fence that surrounding the World Trade Center site in 2008 use an unstable 3-D imagery.
2011
everything BUT; 3:00 minutes
A smorgasbord of agricultural facts and stories— poppy plants, Monsanto, war in the Middle East, famine— that stretch between humor and horrific reality.
8 HAPPINESSES IN 8 MINUTES IN THE PARK; 5:49 minutes
Motherhood, human & animal, in one shot (well almost) transmuted…
2010
AScENSION; 9:02 minutes
Architectural structures of Taos Pueblo transfigured with color and shape, track the most important element: water.
2009
REVERIE; MUSIC: Theme & Variations For Piano & Orchestra by Yoritsune Matsudaira— Ichiro Nodaira, piano; Ken Takaseki & Osaka Century Orchestra; courtesy Naxos of America; 20:36 minutes
Shifting layers of place: New Jersey, New York City, Arizona, and Ireland’s Rock of Cashel; and family slides makes a sliding jigsaw of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant families
TURQUOISE BEADS; Sound: BUSHMEAT aka Thomas Stanley (mix includes voices of: Marcel Duchamp, Langston Hughes, Krishnamurti); Installation: TRT 16.10 minutes. Cinematic Form: 2 Versions: TRT 38.14 & 10 minutes
Compositions from the cities of New York after 9/11 and Chaco Canyon. Chaco was once a major center of a thriving Indian culture from AD 850 to 1250, where, turquoise, a stone mythically born from the marriage between sky and earth, was traded extensively. The complexity of its community life, the high level of its social organization, and its far-reaching commerce created a cultural vision unlike any other seen before. David Stuart’s anthropological argument in ANASAZI AMERICA claims that today’s American society has similar patterns that existed in Chaco’s Anasazi community before its final collapse. TURQUOISE BEADS was inspired by one archaeologist’s tale: Upon excavating an abandoned kiva, turquoise beads were found scattered over the floor. Many kivas (circular underground chambers used by the community for ceremonial meetings) were burned as a way to “close” them when Chaco was abandoned in the thirteenth century. Because of the range and pattern of the scatter it was surmised that the beads had been assembled on a necklace strand and were popped apart during in a ritual of final departure. The layer of moving strands of rippling ‘beads’ throughout this film connect the two landscapes. These ‘beads’ originated as TV noise from a dying box television set, in my hotel room in Atlanta Georgia, where National Guard troops were being deployed to fight in Iraq.
2008
THE FUTURE IS YOU; 9.17 minutes
New York City after the 9/11 disaster in monochrome; landscapes shifting between trees and streets.
3 DAYS; TRT. 5.30 to 7.00 minutes
The same landscape shot over 3 days mimics grids and rows (calendar forms), as fuchsia flowers gestate and multiply….
EARTH IS THE GARDEN; 4.58 minutes
Environmental concerns: singing frogs stimulate their surroundings.
CRACKED; 3.22 minutes; “Let’s GO!”, a second of fragmented tape locks a figure inside its horizontal roll.
ANOTHER TRIP; 2.41 minutes
Interplay from inside and out of a motor trailer.
11th HOUR; 2.40 minutes
Horrific encounter: humans engulfed in Nature
STRIKING GOLD; 0.51 minutes
Haiku: Spring walk through the woods.
FOR SALLY; 2.37 minutes
Real time/life- a beached ball has a way of changing things.
2007
SAILING to BYZANTIUM; 12.05 minutes; Sound: cassette tape of a family’s recited poems.
Visuals: simultaneously in the two grand-mother lands at once; a Slovenian town square at sunset, and in Ireland rummaging through the other’s forgotten property.
NO FIT PLACE (part 3 of Triptych); 2.14 minutes
Portrait: with emotions of delight, fear & horror
SUB ROSA (part 2 of Triptych); 3.53 minutes
Portrait: the emotion: of joy
THE GROUND FROM UNDERNEATH (1 of Triptych); 2.18 minutes
Portrait: the emotion of loss
2006
GOODBYE SKY GOODBYE EARTH; 4.40 minutes;
In the desert in real life: a sunset, a TV on the fritz in the desert, a Hi8 video camera breaking down- all taken advantage of to make this edited-in-the-camera piece, with added soundtrack and one obvious visual element. News from nowhere.
WORDS on PEACEPIECE; Sound: Thomas Parker Williams; Text: C.G.Jung & Lili White; 1.30 minutes
Performer moves through composition with spoken and written text
TREASURE; Sound: Thomas Parker Williams; 3.30 minutes
Ecological comment. Searching for water; building a city on a beach; an ominous mood over Las Vegas NV; a defunct desert watering hole with archaic petroglyphs; the Hoover Dam.
1979-2006
SHE DREAMS THE WORLD; Color- re-edited Super-8 Film; Sound: Music: Peace Creeps; 6.00 minutes
She who “dreams the world” ushers in psychic counterparts: a feminine “shadow” and a Dionysian “animus” who travel through mythic terrain of death and rebirth.
2003
DEPARTURE; Sound: Lili White & Keith Strand through Brooklyn’s The Outpost Residency featuring Chopin, Delibes, Shinto Ceremony; Afro-American Fold Songs; Irish Sea Shanty; 10.20 minutes
Arriving at a sense of balance and harmony in the execution of calligraphy is similar to the struggle of Homo sapiens to maintain equilibrium as they walk upright; departing from the realm of the strictly animal, evolving their human consciousness. Forms of a snake and decrepit cattle gates mimic the “departure” ideogram .
2002
SNAKE SCALES or THERE ARE NO STRAIGHT LINES; Music: Sun Ra Arkestra; 13.00 minutes
Snake imagery toys with the concept of the “edge” or “frame” in the 2-D image.
1999
JUST FOR MY FRIENDS; 7.17 minutes
Mapping space in the SECRET LANGUAGE installation where glyphs change into alphabets on the wall.
1998
PETALS & THORNS ; Music: Nicholas Kodaly & Bela Bartok; 9.07 minutes
Voiceover fairy tale and a performer, changing her hat.
1997
THE HOUSE OF THE GENTLE; TRT: 30 minutes
White performs interpretations of eight I Ching hexagrams named “gentile”, yet penetrating. In Nature such essential forces are wind or wood. The I Ching, aka. the Chinese Book of Changes, describes sixty-four different but archetypal forms of energy.
1996
The GIFT OF THE DREAM prelude; Music: Waymen LaMont Widgens; 10.10 minutes
Text derived from alchemical texts and dream fragments; images based upon dreams experienced while sleeping in Chaco Culture, an Anasazi city; Canyon de Chelly, home of the natural monument to Spider Woman, creator of the world; and Shofuso, the Japanese House and Garden in Philadelphia.
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SUPER-8 FILM
1981
CAREERING; Music: Public Image Ltd; 4.46 minutes
banal footage filmed on the streets: includes Pope John Paul II’s visit to Philadelphia (before he was shot in Rome); newspaper headlines of the failed rescue attempt of kidnapped US Embassy personal in Iran; historic buildings from Colonial America; and demolition sites of Philadelphia Pennsylvania under new development.
1980 IG 79 Sound; Music: Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell; 5.00 minutes
Moving and groovin’ with the grandfather of Punk Rock, Iggy Pop, at Philadelphia’s HOT CLUB in 1979
1979
REVOLVE/er; Sound; MUSIC collage: Punk Rock Bands of late 70’s early 80’s; poem: Paul Eluard; 9.14 minutes
Rioters in Iran on TV; glimpses of performing Punk Rock Band personages: Suicide, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Judy Nylon (who also performed with the band, SNATCH); final scene from ON THE WATERFRONT; a mind-reader does his tricks on TV; scissors, samurai sword; little girls, kids & a dead cat on RR tracks, human eyes