Facing West Shadows Artistic Director and Interdisciplinary artist Lydia Greer will present their work with shadows in theatre, cinematic installation, sculpture, film/video, expanded cinema performance and animation, and recent work with Facing West Shadows. 

Lydia will present on a recent project. Facing West Shadows: The Endless End is a cinematic, sculptural installation and now a live expanded cinema performance that illuminates the perpetuation of extinction and survival and disrupted life cycles. Through film, shadow puppetry, animation, and rich soundscapes, this immersive work addresses the endurance and demise of species, the interconnectedness of ecosystems, and anthropogenic climate change. Using found historical footage and early photographic studies, this work marks the passage of time and explores humanity's complex role as prey and predator, caretaker, and destroyer.

Inspired by the Bay Area's fragile ecosystems, our art collective combines old and new technologies and disciplines, creating a space to inspire awareness, contemplation, and action. Please note that following the lecture, there will be a hands-on workshop on shadow casting and shadow/silhouette animation.

FEATURED ARTIST:

Lydia Greer is a widely exhibiting interdisciplinary visual artist, filmmaker, animator, and the Artistic Director of Facing West Shadows, a Lumia arts collective working with shadow casting/ hybridizing art forms to create magical acts of rebellion as experimental art in the gold rush climate of the San Francisco Bay Area. Expanding into film/animation, theater/opera, puppetry, and sculptural installation, Facing West Shadows creates surprising experiences for the audience by seamlessly combining old and new technologies and art forms.

Lydia holds an MFA in Art Practice, New Genres/Mixed Media from the University of California, Berkeley, CA, and was a Fellow at The Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. She has been an artist and consultant for over a decade with the Cinematic Shadow Theatre nonprofit ShadowLight Productions. Most recently, she has exhibited work at the Strangloscope International Film Festival (Brazil), The Exploratorium Museum of Science, Art & Human Perception, and The Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, among others.

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