I work in non-fiction animation, motion graphics, installation while simultaneously connecting and creating opportunities for other artists through larger curatorial and editorial projects such as Water, CA (a six year collaboration with Enid Ryce) and Winter Shack (a three year collaboration with Alex Branch). I’ve taught film/media courses at CUNY Staten Island, Parsons The New School, and Cal State Monterey Bay. I frequently collaborate with UNY, l’ao , and most recently with electronic music pioneer, Vince Clarke. I also coproduced the five part web series Just Browsing, written by Joanne Mcneil. And I was the 2015 recipient of a Jerome Foundation film/media grant for a forthcoming film about the border landscapes of El Paso and Juárez.
More about the film: https://fredsrainbowbarandotherstagesontheinternationalborder.com
My interest in the movement, history and mythology of Water in the West probably originated with my upbringing in El Paso, Texas. Before I knew the history of the 1963 Chamizal Convention which would ultimately channelize and permanently fix a portion of the Río Grande/Río Bravo as the official border between United States and Mexico and before I knew that rivers change course and therefore make terrible boundaries, I was aware, from a young age, that the fluctuating water levels of the Rio Grande, largely determined the movement and prosperity of people on both sides of the river. The river bisected these two places, but the shared watershed also brought people together. In 1999 I moved away to attend grad school in California but would periodically return to El Paso. On one trip I was struck to find that the river was no longer visible, obstructed in part by the US/Mexico border security fence. This got me thinking about the importance of visibility, engagement and access to one’s watershed.
Clay marker in the center of the Río Grande/Río Bravo. Still from a film in progress about growing up on the International border.
Contact: nicole.antebi(at)gmail.com
