Residue of Memory w/ Cynthia O'Dell

minicine and the Centenary Art Department host Cynthia O’Dell to personally present and discuss her new video Residue of Memory (USA, Color, 37min., VHS).

Residue of Memory is an experimental documentary exploring the metaphorical relationship between family loss and an abandoned rock quarry. Inspired by a story about Ms. O’Dell’s grandfather, who owned rock quarries in Southern Indiana and who, according to family myth, made and lost a fortune at the turn of the century, the work centers on notions of the American Dream, our mediated connections to the land, and how families and people shape their identity through their connections to, or distance from, the landscape.

The video also is autobiographical, as it documents Ms. O’Dell’s journey to understand the notion of home through both its presence and absence. Five generations of women lead this work as the video moves through the landscape, literally and figuratively, from one town to another. It is an attempt to understand why her family has been so transient, why many of its women lost their fathers and, as a result, why they became so displaced. Ms. O’Dell states; “I am searching to understand a lineage of dislocation and abandonment, which in many ways is a counterpoint to the American Dream.”

“Supported by a grant from the Louisiana State Arts Council, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture Recreation and Tourism, and the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.”

8PM, 824 Texas Avenue, Downtown Shreveport…FREE