Gwendolyn Audrey Foster Experimental Films - Portfolio

A queer feminist détournement from a found advertising imagery, rendered unidentifiable and sculpted as an abstract and surreal fairy tale film.

An engraved woodcut 'comes to life.' An inexplicable extempore fairy tale; ripe and ambiguous with feminine horror, play, sensuality, fantasy and female bravery.

“Everyone thinks of fairy tales in terms of poisoned apples and glass coffins, and forgets that they represent girls who walked into dark forests and remade them into their own reflections.”
―Seanan McGuire

"Fairy tales are the origins of our childhood. At the same time, they are projections into the unknown. As little girls, they allowed us to voyage to the unknown." ―Catherine Breillat

“There are fairy stories to be written for adults. Stories that are still in a green state.” ― André Breton

"Fairy tales are mirrors - abstract and reflective by nature. Fairy tales project on us, just as we project onto them."―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

"It is time for parents and publishers to stop dumbing down the original classic fairy tales. We do not need puritanical censors to tell us what is good or bad for us." ―Jack Zipes

"Fairy Tale [Excerpt]" is an automatiste détournement of (mis)appropriated materials in the Public Domain, or material released under a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain license.

"Fairy Tale [Excerpt]" - Music and video by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.

"Fairy Tale [Excerpt]"― by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. Copyright © 2017 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.

"Rose is Not for Sale" is a cinécriture study in feminist film portraiture and the politics of the gendered commodified body.

It is also something of a poetic film homage to Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and poet Christina Rossetti.

“Rose is Not For Sale” is a détournement from manipulated materials in the Public Domain, or material released under a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain license.

Copyright © 2018 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.

Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" (1862) can be read here:
poetryfoundation.org/poems/44996/goblin-market

A bisexual queer 'found' self portrait in the tradition of other bisexual surrealist artists such as Maya Deren, Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, Anaïs Nin, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, David Bowie, Bessie Smith, Alice Walker, Virginia Woolf, and Toyen (Marie Čermínová).

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.”―Anaïs Nin

"I didn't set out to make a self portrait. 'Self Portrait' is an experiment in surreal automatism. An appropriated détournement resulted from this experiment: a 'found image as self' morphs into multiple selves who walk away from the camera to meet yet more aspects of the self, travelling through alternate times and places. Use of a 'found' female figure - one who never looks at the camera - disrupts norms of traditional patriarchal portraiture.

I am fascinated by myriad representations of the self as Other and the Other as self (or selves); particularly in the work of women artists, other queer bisexual feminist artists, the Surrealists and the Situationists."―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

"Self Portrait"―Music and video by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.

Other found self portraits:
"The Passenger" vimeo.com/205097372
"Standing Up" vimeo.com/204817552
"Smile / Wave" vimeo.com/224574518

For more, see my portfolio at

"Self Portrait"―Music and video by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.

“Self Portrait” is a détournement made in part from images found in the Public Domain, or material released under a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain license. Copyright © 2017 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.

'Alone Together' is a kaleidoscopic collage from found images and borrowed memories. Another cinepoem and détournement.

I find such a warmth and mystery in old black and white film footage; dreams we borrow and share in a surreal sort of time/space travel. Alone together, together alone.―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

"Alone Together" is made from found materials and music in the Public Domain, or released under a Creative Commons CC0 license.

“Alone Together," by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. Copyright © 2017 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.

“'Say / Nothing' is a film about things about which we are routinely expected to ‘say nothing.' My film is a personal film on family loss and trauma, but also, far more importantly, a wider statement against a patriarchal culture of war and the military industrial complex, and the dangers of forced consensus and unquestioned obedience. Speaking out against war – and those things so often left unsaid – is crucial in these times. Forced consensus is truly dangerous to democracy.

I do not support war, nor do I support the military or the patriarchal institutions and the gender norms that result in the destruction of life, the destruction of families, and the destruction of the environment. I wage peace and stand for pacifism in the face of a rising tide of increased militarism and nationalism. Speaking out and speaking up is deeply patriotic.”―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

*This film is dedicated to my Grandfather, the artist and photographer Joe Jennings, who suffered from PTSD from serving in WWII and eventually took his own life to end his anguish and pain. It is dedicated to everyone around the globe who suffers as a consequence of war. We must wage peace. ―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”―Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”―Martin Luther King, Jr.

FOR RELATED FILMS:
See also MACHINE vimeo.com/190509450
See also FEAR vimeo.com/199258624
See also ENOUGH vimeo.com/194188318
See also MASS: vimeo.com/208383457
See also Obey / Follow: vimeo.com/212426618

Say / Nothing is made from "found" material in the Public Domain, or images and music released under a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain license.

"Say / Nothing" is a video by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. Copyright © 2017 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.

Choral Music used in Say / Nothing is all from the
Free Music Archive. Public Domain. CCO 1.0
Antonio Lotti's 'Missa'
Tomás Luis de Victoria's 'Amicus Meus'
Tomás Luis de Victoria's 'Unus Ex Discipulis Meus'

"Passion brings ancient bronze statues to life; they melt into one another, becoming one. 'As One' recalls the 'love which makes us one,' described so beautifully by the Pre-Raphaelite poet Christina Rossetti in her poem, 'Monna Innominata,' reprinted in part below."―Gwendolyn Audrey Foster

"Monna Innominata"
―by Christina Rossetti (first published in 1881)

'A great flame follows a little spark.' ― Dante

Ogni altra cosa, ogni pensier va fore,
E sol ivi con voi rimansi amore. ― Petrarch

I loved you first: but afterwards your love
Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song
As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.
Which owes the other most? my love was long,
And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;
I loved and guessed at you, you construed me
And loved me for what might or might not be –
Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.
For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’
With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,
For one is both and both are one in love:
Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’
Both have the strength and both the length thereof,
Both of us, of the love which makes us one.
―by Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Part of The Eros Trilogy. See all three videos in the trilogy:

*Eros Sleeping: vimeo.com/202575235
*Eros and Psyche: vimeo.com/201958267
*As One: vimeo.com/204575300

'As One' is fashioned from recycled and repurposed images and sound in the Public Domain, or material released under a Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain license.

"As One" ― Music and Video by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.
Copyright © 2017 Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. All rights reserved.