After living in medium to large cities like Seattle and Beijing, I find it hard to believe that I spent a significant amount of my life on Guam. I often wonder about what I did as a kid, what did I do in my spare time on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. People find it odd that I didn't spend my time at the beach, or hiking in the lush tropical forests or singing praises to the nature gods for a good harvest. I did, after all, live on a tropical island. Don't all island people do that? It's an island in the Pacific! 85 degrees EVERY SINGLE DAY.
It's actually more common than you think for people on Guam to not spend time at the beach and take part in water related activities. There is a fair share of old wives tales and real stories about people dying or losing limbs because of one thing or another related to the power of the currents and tides, so going to the beach was out of the question for most kids. Then again there is the case of getting dark which is absolutely forbidden for little girls, so asking to even play outside before 6pm was considered suicide. Remember, the goal is white porcelain and you, and definitely not your future husband, wouldn't want to jeopardize your future for that golden glow caused by cancer causing sunlight.
My brother and I turned to the arts when we were kids. We dabbled with landscaping, utilizing recycled (read: things we stole from the abandoned house next door) materials and native plant species, as well as interior design with again, recycled materials (cardboard boxes), and working with our client's -our mom- existing furniture to fit our small budget. One of our biggest and most successful projects was the Amazonian rainforest inspired front porch we designed and built, complete with working fountain. We've experimented in fashion design where inspiration was drawn from dominatrixes, superheroes and science fiction. I would say we were very minimalistic in our approach, only using scissors (think of a lot of tearing with our hands), recycled clothing (have you noticed a trend here?) as well as random pieces of fabric intended for curtains that we stole from our mom to create a look. Many of the outfits that we've produced were one of a kind pieces, often being constructed to fit the body, or Barbie's body, perfectly and is intended to be thrown out afterwards. Our venture did not last long due to the lack of public interest, considering Barbie and I were the only clients. I'd like to think it was because my brother was too much of a forward thinker in his vision and the public was not ready for it.
We also made home movies, specializing at both live action and stop and go animation. Some of our work includes a live action remake of The Little Mermaid, with Ursula recast as an evil and larger than life bulati (sea cucumber) and short film of a day in the life of Barbie and Ken which was probably one of the most difficult movies to produce. Probably the most work intensive and most rewarding of all is Faces of Fri, which is the only film that is available for viewing today, only in VHS form. Written, directed and produced by my brother and starring me (as all roles), Faces of Fri is a three part short film series of a trio of friends -Susan, Roman and Faludi each with their own "unique" personalities. Susan is the aspiring model, Roman is the academic, and Faludi seems to be the empowered female with an agenda. The film follows the girls on seemingly normal adventures- sleepovers, meeting a new friend and a day outside in the yard- but things go awry when they discover that the house is haunted which, for some reason, gives them special powers, the new friend is an English bitch and playing in the yard is actually more dangerous than you think. The film was produced on a very low budget but my brother did a remarkable job filming and editing and I am still impressed with the quality of the film.
While my landscaping, interior design, fashion design, and movie making would be nothing to write home about today, I believe I was at my creative peak at eight years old. Maybe the island was my muse and if I head back then I could channel some of that creativity again. I'd rather not take that chance though. It's an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for crying out loud.
No comments:
Post a Comment