HARDWIRED 2025
This video came from wanting to directly engage with the materials used in my video installation. I wanted to insert myself into the conversation that the materials had already started and respond to what the materials taught me. The tub from Severed, Yet Whole reappears as a vessel for transformation and rebirth. By placing the materials into the tub myself, I become both maker and subject. Each action felt like a small reclaiming of agency and a reminder that even in transformation, I still get to choose how I’m formed. I also externalized my current mental state of feeling like I was moving through the dark, not being able to see what’s ahead. Without being able to see the result, I trust that every motion and every choice is part of becoming, and I’m choosing to trust that I’m exactly where I need to be.
Projection Video for Installation
Tethered 2025
This work is a visual representation of how my journey has been processing my own trauma and experiences.
An experimental film.
DESARE 2025
This is a video self-portrait of undoing. Removing expectations placed on me and ones I placed on myself. These words were once truths and burdens, shaping me in ways I never fully consented to. As I erase these words from defining who I am, they remain etched in me. I cannot erase the space they once occupied or the weight they still carry. They linger as markers of something unresolved, parts of myself still asking to be seen.
Inspired by Zhang Huan, Howardene Pindell, and Ana Mendieta
May I See? 2025
This work goes into the nuanced dynamics of permission and consent, positioned in a space where chance and burden intersect. It explores how these forces can manifest through devotion, tenderness, and endurance, as well as the act of resisting unwanted pressure. Whether freely chosen or imposed, we reflect on how permission and consent shape our experiences and relationships, navigating the complexities of control, vulnerability, and agency
Made in collaboration w/Kaia King-Hall, Veronica Dimitrov, & Emily Cortex
a woman, no less 2024
My first film project.
one-shot film.
Ahlina Kay-Lynn Smart 