Index
Symbols are our psyche’s way of informing countless internal myths with content
As a cultural strategist my creative studio practice sits at the crossroads of semiotics & personal mythology. My ever-growing visual library (archived here) exists to explore life’s tensions & themes by exploring visual codes found in boundary objects such as: ⌛(life/death), 🚪(portal/passageway), 🕳️ (shadow/unknown), 🌳(fertility/family), etc.
More about the work here... With a professional expertise rooted in unlocking cultural insight for brands—I use my non-commercial practice to explore both slow & fast visual-reads of life’s major questions and topics. The work includes distilled marks, drawings, & loops and is informed by my academic background in design, theatre, & psychology. Overall, my approach is rooted in lo-fi image-making. Here I can reject the slick, the tech, and the ‘more, more more’ in order to capture ideas with raw imperfection & nuance. Work that retains it’s physical history and a snapshot of that moment’s feelings/sensations is a success. My production kit mostly made-up of a combo of simple materials in day-glo pallate that fit on or around a table-top (paper, sand, sculpy, pen, ink, rosolux gels, household objects). Currently this work exists for my personal cartharsis but I am actively seeking out short-term residency opportunities for Spring/Summer/Fall ‘25. Ultimately, this practice will always be a Jungian-style visual anthology that stays curious, and tends to always hover above some kind of body based inner-work.
What I am up to... Outside of making these ‘curious things to look at’ I just finished a self-funded stop-motion short. And I am currently developing a multi-image 35mm slide projection show. This includes 4 ektagraphic projectors, 250 handmade slides, 80 select photographic slides from my grandfathers archive, and a collection of slides made by guest artists.
In my 9-5 I’ve worked as visual designer and brand strategist for the past decade in some of NYC’s top boutique brand consulting agencies. I am currently the Head of Storytelling at a privately owned Manhattan-based research agency.
Recently, I let go of opportunities to study at CalArts & USC gradschools for experimental animation. While it turned out going to school wasn’t right fit for the season, these acceptances gave me the push to start finding/making more IRL opportunities and work that would allow me to interface with other artists.
Currently, I am based in the southern-east coast in a sleepy beach town where I am practicing becoming a beach person, enjoying family, doing bikhram yoga, and learning to “yes-and” via long & short-form improv.
Hope you enjoy some things you see here and thanks for checking out the work!
👋 Alexandria (aka ‘zanda’)