Education 

MA Artists’ Film and Moving Image, Goldsmiths, University of London, October 2024 with Distinction
MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2022-2023
Film Production, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, Washington, 2021 
Poetry Manuscript Writing, Unterberg Poetry Center, New York City, New York, 2021

Group Exhibitions

Goldsmiths MA Artists’ Film & Moving Image Graduate Exhibition, Laurie Grove Baths, South London, UK, 2024
‘wolf Mad Mad’ collective moving image show. APT Gallery, South London, Deptford, UK, 2024
Inclusion in the Cubitt Gallery Archive, Cubitt Artists Gallery, London, UK, 2023
‘Voluntary Currents’ featured moving image collaboration in Amber Wilcox’s solo show, Kansas City, MO, 2023
Loess Collective presents ‘Taste the Difference’ Part 2, curated by Margharita Ghella, Evie Banks and Susana Lopez Orozco, Hypha Studios, London, UK, 2023
Lumifest: Jeudi en lumière de Boucherville, Lumifest Projection Festival, Montreal, Quebec, 2022
Portals and Pathways, Group show, International Trucking Service Gallery, 2021
The Great Wave Festival, Berlin, Germany, 2020

Selected Official Selections, Screenings, and Performances

Oregon New Music Festival, Eugene, Oregon, 2023
Loess Collective presents ‘Taste the Difference’, London, UK, 2023
Mexican Institute of Cinematography via FILMINLATINO, Mexico City, Mexico, 2022
Music and/as Process Conference: Music and Interdisciplinary Practice, UCA, Farnham, Surrey, UK, 2022
Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film & Video, Mexico City, Mexico, 2022
Monologues and Poetry International Film Festival, Vallejo, California, 2022
Biodedromo Film Festival, Bilbao, Spain, 2022
Midwest Video Poetry Festival, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, 2022
Dérapage Film Festival, Montreal, Quebec, 2021
Charlotte Street Gallery New Music Competition, Kansas City, Missouri, 2021
Cadence Poetry Film Festival, Seattle, Washington, 2021
Prismatic Ground Experimental Documentary Film Festival, NYC, New York, 2021
Manchester International Film Festival, Manchester, England, 2019
Cascadia Poetry Festival, Anacortes, Washington, 2019
Lincoln Short Film Festival, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2019
Newlyn Film Festival, Penzance, Cornwall, UK, 2019

Commissions

Graphic score for Charlotte Street Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri, 2021
Digital film for Electric Medway Digital Arts Festival, Kent, UK, 2021
Filmmaker-in-Residence for House of Beautiful Business, Berlin, Germany, 2020

Press

“Zero Has Traces of the One” featured interview with Eryk Salvaggio of Cybernetic Forests, 2023
Loess Collective Presents “Taste the Difference” — a Satirical and Playful Show. FADMagazine, London, 2023
The Daily Brit Features Get Living, Hypha Studios, and Loess Collective, 2023
Poet holds book signing. News-Press Gazette, 2022
”For experimental musicians in Kansas City, sometimes a traditional concert hall just won’t do”. Kansas City’s National Public Radio Affiliate, KCUR 89.3, 2022
”Breaking through the noise with the Charlotte Street Foundation’s ‘New Music Composition Competition’”. Kansas City Classical Music Radio 91.9, 2021
”Sing, Play, Move: Charlotte Street Makes Bold New Commitment with Music-Composition Contest”. The Independent, Kansas City’s Journal of Society, 2021
”Chrissy Teigen shares origami she made in honor of late son Jack”. The Today Show online, 2021

Public Programming

Artist Talk, APT Gallery, Featured artist in ‘wolf Mad Mad’, Deptford, South London, UK, 2024
Somatic Mini-Workshop, APT Gallery, Deptford, South London, UK, 2024
Interactive Modern Dance Archive, International Trucking Gallery, Interactive movement workshop and presentation of archival video and photography, 2023
“Leaving / Not Leaving”, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, Art Talk and Book Signing event, 2023
“The Art of Grief”, The DeeDee Jackson Show, streaming broadcast and podcast, 2023
“Don’t Tell Me I’m Beautiful”, The Experimental Film Podcast, 2021
“Grief as Co-Creation”, Guest speaker, Great Wave Festival, Berlin, Germany, 2020

Leadership and Volunteering

Artist Film Crit Club, Facilitator, 2024
Millennium Film Workshop, Facilitator and Programmer, 2024
Goldsmiths Student Representative, Student-Staff Forum, 2022-2024
Student Associate, Linnean Society of London, 2023-2024
Goldsmiths Fine Arts Department, Accessibility and Anti-Ableism Representative, 2023
Goldsmiths Good Grief Society, Founder and President, 2023-2024
Goldsmiths Fine Art Mentoring program, Leader, 2023
Loess Collective (London-based artist collective), Communications Officer, 2023

Musical Releases

Ontology of Us, 2024
Getting Out Without Catching Fire, 2023

Publications

Bittersweet Zine, Cubitt Artists Gallery, 2024
Liner Notes for Getting Out Without Catching Fire: High-legibility edition, 2023
Liner Notes for Getting Out Without Catching Fire: Deluxe edition, 2023
A Journal of Gigantic Beauty, 2022
Experiments in Dreaming, 2022
Journeywork of the Stars, 2022
Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer Coloring Book, 2022
Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer, 2021
Multi-temporal Anxiety Tracker, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Findlay University, Ohio, 2021
The Immortal Charlie Parker, Disembodied Voices selection, Lucy Cavendish School, University of Cambridge, England, 2021
Inhale / Exhale, Le Menteur magazine, Paris School of Art and Culture, Paris, France, 2021
Grief is an Origami Swan: An Art Book About Grief, 2020

2024

Artists’ Film & Moving Image | Graduate Degree Show

Laurie Grove Baths, London, July

The 2024 graduating cohort of Goldsmiths College, University of London presented installations of their moving image works in South London’s historic Laurie Grove Baths.

…

Group Exhibition | wolf Mad Mad

APT Gallery, London, March

A.P.T. Gallery announces the upcoming exhibition wolf Mad Mad, featuring moving image works and expanded cinema by the 2024 graduates of the Artists' Film & Moving Image Programme at Goldsmiths.

On Saturday, 23 Mar 3p, Michèle Saint-Michel hosted a somatic micro-workshop. Standing is explored through gentle movement and walking, which sought to foreground curiosity rather than defined answers.

Other artists showcased in the exhibition include Patricia Craciun, Yun Ding, Sarah ElMasry, Alina Gorlova, indexthumb, Umi Ishihara, Shohrab Jahan, Ananda Kupfer, Margot McEwen, Joshua Roberts, and Jade Sim.

2023

Selection | Fluxus Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro

Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble - Oregon New Music Festival - U.S. Northwest Premiere - October 15

Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble presents a groundbreaking interpretation of the graphic score, "Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro," at the esteemed Oregon New Music Festival. This marks the second time this Fluxus-inspired composition will be brought to life by a talented ensemble.

"Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro" is a fusion of Fluxus experimentation and literary influences, offering a unique auditory journey that transcends the conventional norms of musical expression. The Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble, known for their daring interpretations and commitment to pushing artistic boundaries, is poised to deliver a performance that not only captivates the audience but also challenges perceptions of what music can be.

Listen here: https://edme.bandcamp.com/album/new-music-festival-02023-documentation-sunday-october-15

…

Publication | Liner Notes for Getting Out Without Catching Fire

Bad Saturn, Worldwide release, July-August

Michèle Saint-Michel's latest experimental poetry collection, Liner Notes for Getting Out Without Catching Fire, is a powerful exploration of contemporary society's most pressing issues. With powerful imagery and raw emotion, Saint-Michel's poems demand attention, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths and make space for those who have experienced gender-based violence. The collection is a call to action to engage with the work of survivors and actively work to soften the world. The poems in this collection are marked by their experimental style, with Saint-Michel playing with form, structure, and language to create a sense of dislocation and disorientation. 

Through this, the poems convey a sense of fragmentation, as if the speaker is piecing together a narrative from the fragments of experience and memory. Despite the sense of urgency and unease that runs through the collection, there is also a sense of acceptance and resilience. The poems suggest that even in the face of overwhelming challenges, there is still the possibility for connection, especially through feminine bonds, and growth. Using a copy machine to reproduce the poems emphasizes the raw, unpolished quality of the language. The machine-made copies may have a certain starkness or simplicity that complements the content of the poems, which are often marked by their emotional intensity and urgent, direct language.

Available in Deluxe (illustrated), Standard (High-contrast, high-legibility), and Digital eBook editions.

•••

Publication | Cubitt Gallery Archive

Cubitt Gallery Archive, July-Aug

These works were added to the Cubitt Archive as responses to current archive materials. This led to a workshop that will culminate in a zine by curators Evie Banks, Stephanie Chung and Margherita Ghella.

The project is concerned with making the archive more accessible, viewing it as a platform and catalyst for inter-subjective processes in which artists, curators, and the public join to co-create meanings and knowledge. Stemming from an interest in queer ecologies and how networks form through gossip, the group's approach to the archive will take the format of zine, to intertwine subjective histories in a playful composition.

•••

Exhibition | Featured Collaboration in Amber Wilcox’s Solo Show

International Trucking Service Gallery, Kansas City, MO, May-Aug

"Voluntary Currents" features a collaborative video installation with experimental filmmaker Michèle Saint-Michel. This immersive collaboration further expanded the boundaries of Amber Wilcox's artistic practice, combining visual and cinematic elements to create a truly unique and captivating experience for visitors.

"Voluntary Currents" is on display at the International Trucking Service Gallery through the end of August. Art enthusiasts, collectors, and the general public were invited to explore the profound depths of Amber Wilcox's artistic vision and immerse themselves in the evocative world of "Voluntary Currents."

•••

Exhibition | Group Show at London’s Hypha Studios

Loess Collective at Hypha Studios, London, UK, featuring ‘Concealer’ by Michèle Saint-Michel, February-March

•••

Press | Loess Collective Presents “Taste the Difference” a Satirical and Playful Show

FADMagazine, London, UK, appeared January 19, 2023 by Mark Westall. Read the original article.

A mixed media show comprising painting, sculpture, performance, installation, and multimedia. Come discover the subterranean world of Stratford with sculptures which take inspiration from the underground pipelines in site-specific contexts or indulge in sensory awakenings through interactive installations playing on emotional memory activated by scent. Join us for screenings of sound and film works investigating human relationships to invasive species connecting to our relationship with human migration.

Michèle Saint-Michel’s moving image work, ‘In danger, the sea-cucumber divides itself in two’ (2023) 9min, plays on a large Panasonic monitor in vivid color. The piece and the exhibition is brought to you with the support of Hypha Studios, and made possible by Get Living, East Village London, and Goldsmiths Exhibition Hub.

Read more: https://fadmagazine.com/2023/01/19/loess-collective-presents-taste-the-difference-a-satirical-playful-show/

•••

Exhibition | In danger, the sea-cucumber divides itself in two film

“Taste the Difference” exhibition - Hypha Studios, Stratford, London E20, UK - Feb

To defend against predators, the holothurian (or sea-cucumber) ejects its intestines and makes a rapid exit. This is the moment of fight or flight (fawn or freeze) recreated for this work. In these mere fractions of moments, we are irrevocably divided into blissful ignorance and a haunting seed of knowledge that forever rests heavy in our guts. We are divided into a before and an after. As Wisława Szymborska writes, we are divided “into flesh and a broken whisper.”

This work premiered at Hypha Studios in Stratford, London E20 as part of the Loess Collective’s show “Taste the Difference” in February 2023.

2022

Screening | Each Memory is a Room film

International Trucking Service Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri, US - November

•••

Screening | [[even a stopped clock is right twice a day]] film

Music and/as Process Conference: Music and Interdisciplinary Practice - University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, UK - Sept

[[even a stopped clock is right twice a day]], a film for opposing walls by Michèle Saint-Michel and Dr. Sophie Stone screens at the 9th annual Music and/as Process Conference of Music and Interdisciplinary Practice at the University for the Creative Arts — Farnham Campus in Surrey, UK.

The conference addresses interdisciplinary practices and processes, and includes papers, workshops, discussion, a keynote address, and a final event sharing some of the works from the two day event.

…

Press | Michèle Saint-Michel holds book signing

News-Press Gazette, appeared August 25, 2022. Written by Andrew Gaug

After the subsequent deaths of her father and best friend, Michèle Saint-Michel is hoping to help people grieve through poetry, pictures and origami.

“A lot of my work is about healing after difficult experiences. I hope readers see that even if you’re not healed, you can use that on your path,” she said.

Since 2020, Saint-Michel has released several books, each with different approaches to the subject of grief and healing. “Grief is an Origami Swan” mixes the art of origami with poetry, silhouettes of trees along the Missouri River and Japanese design aesthetics. “Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer” is an art book that takes the reader on a journey through PTSD and trauma to a place of healing.

For those that want an enhanced experience, there’s also a coloring book and a set of journals people can purchase if they want to document their journeys through life.

“Some people aren’t super keen readers but they’re still interested in my work. And I wanted something accessible and affordable,” she said.

The book signing is free and open to the public.

•••

Publication | Three Journals from Michèle Saint-Michel

Bad Saturn, Worldwide release, August - Lined and dotted journals with freedom to dream

Punctuated by the words of Walt Whitman, these three journals illustrated by Saint-Michel are designed to create space for those who dream of pulling a new world into existence.

Whitman's work was a pillar of Saint-Michel's erasure and concrete poetry collection, Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer. Working closely with the text created an intimacy in particular with his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting the epic work. Take a page from Whitman and continue writing and rewriting your own story.

Experiments in Dreaming: A Lined Journal

A Journal of Gigantic Beauty: A Lined Journal

Journeywork of the Stars: A Dotted Journal

…

Publication | Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer Coloring Book

Bad Saturn, Worldwide release, June

Coloring pages to accompany Michèle Saint-Michel's experimental book of erasure and concrete poetry, Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer. The Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer Coloring Book features outlined illustrations from the original book that are ready to be brought to living color with your favorite colored pencils, crayons, or markers.

Buy via Amazon or anywhere you purchase books: https://amzn.to/3nfenBF

…

Streaming | TROUBLE SLEEPING film

Mexican Institute of Cinematography via FILMINLATINO - Mexico City, Mexico - April

The film will be streamed on the premiere streaming platform in Mexico belonging to the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (MCINE). TROUBLE SLEEPING is an experimental documentary piece by Michèle Saint-Michel. Part of her PTSD Suite, this film belongs to a collection of films that explores the symptoms and lived experience of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

…

Press | Composers Featured during NPR’s Morning Edition

Kansas City’s NPR Affiliate KCUR 89.3 - For experimental musicians in Kansas City, sometimes a traditional concert hall just won't do - Kansas City, Missouri - February

Multimedia artist and one of the winning composers in the Charlotte Street competition, Michèle Saint Michel, had struggled to find her place musically, but felt welcomed during the process.

“A lot of times when you think of this Western Classical Music history, you think of this kind of singular genius and they’re always male, and they’re always white, you know, and I think, ‘I don’t fit ... there isn’t a place in chamber music for my work right?' That’s kind of what I was thinking. So, I liked that it was all about collaboration and that it was about experimenting with chamber music.”

Saint-Michel’s piece, “Fluxus Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro,” a graphic score with Fluxus instruction based on her new book, Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer, was one of the winning works. Evoking surreal memory, self-soothing ritual, and escapism, listeners travel the harrowing path of healing / not healing after trauma. The score was performed by multi-instrumentalist Lina Dannov (on Flute / Clarinet / Tenor Sax) and Tim Harte (Computer).

Listen: https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2022-02-04/for-experimental-musicians-in-kansas-city-sometimes-a-traditional-concert-hall-just-wont-do/

…

Official Selection | TROUBLE SLEEPING film

Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film & Video - Mexico City, Mexico - February

TROUBLE SLEEPING is an experimental documentary piece by Michèle Saint-Michel. Part of her PTSD Suite, this film belongs to a collection of films that explores the symptoms and lived experience of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In North America, about 10 of every 100 women (or 10%) develop PTSD sometime in their lives and sexual assault is the most frequent cause of PTSD in women.

People with PTSD may wake up frequently during the night, have difficulty falling back asleep, or may wake up earlier than they intended. Also, even if sleep does occur, it is often not good, restful sleep. Nightmares are also very common among people with PTSD.

…

2021

Interview | Music Competition Winners Featured on ClassicalKC

Kansas City’s Classical Music Radio 91.9 - Breaking through the noise with the Charlotte Street Foundation's 'New Music Composition Competition' - Kansas City, Missouri - December

A selection of the 2021 New Music Competition Winners will be interviewed by KC’s Classical Radio station. Charlotte Street Foundation and Composer Tim Harte & Ensemble Mother Russia Industries–a nonet with experimental & non-traditional approaches to acoustic-electronic chamber music–presented new compositions in a live performance at the Stern Theater in October. The group will chat with 91.9’s Brooke Knoll about the experience.

Saint-Michel’s piece, “Fluxus Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro,” a graphic score with Fluxus instruction based on her new book, Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer, was one of the winning works. Evoking surreal memory, self-soothing ritual, and escapism, listeners travel the harrowing path of healing / not healing after trauma. The score was performed by multi-instrumentalist Lina Dannov (on Flute / Clarinet / Tenor Sax) and Tim Harte (Computer).

Listen: https://www.kcur.org/show/kansas-city-local-feature/2022-01-11/breaking-through-the-noise-charlotte-street-foundations-new-music-composition-competition/

…

Publication | Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer

Bad Saturn, Worldwide release - September

Using the words of dead poets, this fully-illustrated book of concrete poetry explores the multi-temporalities of healing after trauma. Told through layered imagery, erasure poetry, and illustrated self-portraiture, Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer takes you on a journey on the unsteady waters of healing after traumatic events and living with PTSD. This beautifully realized art book is 250 pages of full-color illustration peppered with concrete poems.

Buy on Amazon or anywhere you purchase books: https://amzn.to/3bOLEhp

…

Official Selection | Vile Figs poetry film

Monologues and Poetry International Film Festival - Vallejo, California - November 14-15

On its face Vile Figs considers our complicated relationship with technology and surveillance. At the heart center is an astounding question: at what point do we stop extending compassion? The poetry film features Luke Kennard’s brilliant poem of the same name.

…

Official Selection | HYPERVIGILANCE experimental documentary film

Biodedromo Film Festival - Bilbao, Spain - October 3-17

HYPERVIGILANCE film is an experimental documentary piece by Michèle Saint-Michel. Part of her PTSD Suite, an experimental documentary collection that includes seven individual films. Borrowing a narrative storytelling approach from director Lizzie Borden, Saint-Michel shares vignettes, allegories, poetry, and sometimes dictionary entries, to create a liminal world where the center of many Venn diagrams overlap.

Hypervigilance is a state of increased awareness, anxiety, and sensitivity to the environment often manifests as a need to always scan surroundings for potential threats. People displaying hypervigilance can be so involved in their scrutiny of whats around them, that they ignore their family and friends. They may overreact to loud sounds and bangs, unexpected noises, smells, etc

…

Official Selection | Vile Figs poetry film

Midwest Video Poetry Festival - Arts + Literature Laboratory - Madison, Wisconsin - October 8-9

On its face Vile Figs considers our complicated relationship with technology and surveillance. At the heart center is an astounding question: at what point do we stop extending compassion? The poetry film features Luke Kennard’s brilliant poem of the same name.

View: https://artlitlab.org/events/midwest-video-poetry-fest-2021-day-1

…

Performance | Fluxus Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro

Mother Russia Experimental Chamber Ensemble - Charlotte Street Gallery - World Premiere - October 3

Charlotte Street Foundation and Composer Tim Harte & Ensemble Mother Russia Industries–a nonet with experimental & non-traditional approaches to acoustic-electronic chamber music–will present new compositions in a live performance at the Stern Theater this October. Saint-Michel’s piece, “Fluxus Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro,” a graphic score based on her forthcoming book Saint Agatha Mother Redeemer was one of the winning works.

…

Installation | Floating Down the Veiling Road installation film

International Trucking Service Gallery - “Portals and Pathways” Exhibition - Kansas City, Missouri - September - October

…

Press | Sing, Play, Move: Charlotte Street Makes Bold New Commitment with Music-Composition Contest

The Independent, Kansas City’s Journal of Society - Kansas City, Missouri - September

You might at first wonder what artist-poet-filmmaker Michèle Saint-Michel has in common with singer-songwriter AJ Harbison or UMKC Conservatory doctoral student Yunfei Li. All are among the six Kansas City performing artists selected this summer as winners of the Charlotte Street Foundation’s first annual New Music Composition Competition. Each will produce a brand-new work to be performed by the locally based Ensemble Mother Russia Industries, at a concert on October 2nd at the Foundation’s new home at 3333 Wyoming St.

Read the full article: https://kcindependent.com/sing-play-move-charlotte-street-makes-bold-new-commitment-with-music-composition-contest/

…

Screening | Transmettre film

Lumifest : Jeudi en lumière de Boucherville - Lumifest Projection Festival - Montreal, Quebec - August

Selected DERAPAGE 20+1 films will screen at the Lumifest outdoor projection event in Longueuil & Boucherville (suburbs of Montreal city). Transmettre was an Official Selection for the DÉRAPAGE 20+1 festival in Montreal, Canada.

…

Press | Electric Medway Arts Festival Returns to Kent

‘cene Magazine - Chatham, Kent, UK - August

Following a successful debut in 2020, Electric Medway returns this summer with an ambitious 10-day arts programme held in a variety of locations, with free-to-see artworks and activities including virtual reality, streamed performances, animation, projection, and sound.

Electric Medway is produced by the Chatham-based arts organisation, SparkedEcho, which produces digital and site-specific work, using technology, music, and art in local communities. It is also a Creative Estuary Co-commission – the initiative which aims to showcase 60 miles of the North Kent and South Essex region as one of the UK’s most dynamic and creative areas in the whole of the UK.

The central theme for this year’s festival is Synchronised, with commissioned artists making brand new digital work that explores how people create order in their lives during times of chaos – something many of us can relate to at the current time.

[[even a stopped clock is right twice a day]] by Ashford’s Sophie Stone and Michèle Saint-Michel from Kansas City, Missouri, is a split-screen installation exploring repeated rituals and routines made during the pandemic. It invites the audience to make a choice - which screen do you look at? This can be seen at The Grand Magazine, Fort Amherst.

Read the full article: https://cenemagazine.co.uk/news/2021/6/4/electric-medway-arts-2021

…

Installation | [[even a stopped clock is right twice a day]]

Electric Medway Digital Arts Festival - Kent, UK - August 21-30

[[even a stopped clock is right twice a day]] is a collaborative multi-screen audio-visual work by filmmaker Michèle Saint-Michel and experimental composer Dr. Sophie Stone commissioned by the Electric Medway Digital Arts Festival. The work explores how we create order in our lives during times of chaos. The work asks the audience to view opposing screens simultaneously and interrogate the desire to confirm synchronisation. The effervescent visuals showcase an endlessly primping, mask-like visage in muted pastels of coral pinks and aqua blues. The audio is filled with birdsong and rain. At the center of it all: a vivid, driving countdown clock.

Date: 21/08/2021 - 30/08/2021
Time: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Venue: Grand Magazine,
Fort Amherst, Khartoum Road,
Chatham ME4 4UB

Visit: https://electricmedway.co.uk/events-2021/even-a-stopped-clock-is-right-twice-a-day-by-sophie-stone-and-michele-saint-michel/

…

Publication | Multi-temporal Anxiety Tracker

Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Findlay University - Findlay, Ohio - July

In this experimental work, Saint-Michel alludes to some unmentioned, past event. Presented as a survey, this work calls up and shapes manifold versions of the survey taker. In the liminal space provided by conflicting question directions, the survey taker is forced to shift into multiple versions of past selves in time. This is a reflection of Saint-Michel’s experience as a survivor with PTSD. PTSD symptoms include flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, and nightmares–pulling those afflicted into the past–as well as avoidance and hyper-vigilance–shaping countless disturbing, possible futures.

With this piece, Saint-Michel creates space for survey takers to embody a parallel and simulcast phenomenon of self. For those who complete the survey, the experience has been described as both memorable and haunting.

Experience the survey: https://forms.gle/i17X52V6q8Sk3V6U6/ (Best viewed on Desktop. Google Sign-in required.)

…

Screening and Interview | inhale / exhale films

Le Menteur Literary Magazine - Paris, France - June

Multi-screen works inhale / exhale were chosen to be screened by the literary magazine Le Menteur in Paris next month. The films will screen virtually in an overlapping state for the release of the 2021 issue.

Saint-Michel will speak for a few minutes on collaboration under current restrictions. The two composers for the films, Sam Carr and Dr. Sophie Louise Stone, were unknowing collaborators because when experienced as a multi-screen work, the scores are heard simultaneously.

…

Semi-Finalist | AVOIDANCE film

Long-Distance Film Festival - May

AVOIDANCE film is an experimental documentary piece by Michèle Saint-Michel. Part of her PTSD Suite, an experimental documentary collection that includes seven individual films. Borrowing a narrative storytelling approach from director Lizzie Borden, Saint-Michel shares vignettes, allegories, poetry, and sometimes dictionary entries, to create a liminal world where the center of many Venn diagrams overlap.

In psychology, avoidance/avoidant coping or escape coping is a maladaptive coping mechanism characterized by the effort to avoid dealing with a stressor. Coping refers to behaviors that attempt to protect oneself from psychological damage. Avoidance is a common reaction to trauma.

…

Official Selection | Transmettre film

Dérapage Film Festival - Montreal, Quebec - May

Named an Official Selection for the Dérapage festival (22 years and running) in Montreal, Canada.

Transmettre, created specifically for the 2020 In 20 seconds artists’ call from Dérapage, is an experimental, non-narrative work exploring connection, transmission, and quantum entanglement. The piece attempts, by the force of its atmospheres, to make viewers see with new eyes the year that sculpted the “Before times” from the ether.

This is the World Premiere for Transmittre film, a nano-short experimental film piece.

Visit: https://derapage.ca/

…

Official Selection | the abyss welcomes us film

Cadence Poetry Film Festival - Seattle, Washington - April

This is the World Premiere for Saint-Michel’s poetry film the abyss welcomes us film, part of Saint-Michel’s Abyss Triptych, a tri-screen experimental film piece. The films express a Melvillian sense of tremendous exertion without substantial progress.

View the trailer: Poets & Writers.

…

Official Selection | STARTLE RESPONSE film

Prismatic Ground Experimental Documentary Film Festival - Maysles Cinema - NYC - April

Prismatic Ground is the home for the best in experimental documentary film. The festival is sponsored by Maysles Cinema and Screen Slate, a guide to moving image culture in NYC.

This is the US Premiere for STARTLE RESPONSE film, part of Saint-Michel’s PTSD Suite of experimental short films documenting the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The film had its world premiere (virtually) in Berlin, October 2020.

Visit: https://www.prismaticground.com/

…

Grant Recipient | Charlotte Street Foundation

Rocket Relief Grant Cycle III - Kansas City, MO - April

Awarded by Charlotte Street Foundation and Spencer Museum of Art, with underwriting from the Andy Warhol Foundation to visual and multidisciplinary artists in the Kansas City region.

…

Scholarship | 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center

92nd Street Y - Unterberg Poetry Center - New York City, NY - February

Founded in 1939, the Unterberg Poetry Center inside the 92nd Street Y is where the community connects — through the voice of literature — to history and to what Tony Kushner has called “the clamorous, contentious, vital present moment.”

Saint-Michel will be working under the guidance of poet Cynthia Cruz (author of six poetry collections and poems published in numerous literary journals and magazines including the New Yorker, Kenyon Review, the Paris Review, BOMB, and the Boston Review, and the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and a Hodder fellowship from Princeton University.) for 8 weeks on a poetry manuscript.

…

Publication | The Immortal Charlie Parker poem (audio work)

Lucy Writer’s Platform - Lucy Cavendish School & The University of Cambridge - Cambridge, England - January

“In The Immortal Charlie Parker, artist Michèle Saint-Michel tells an intimate story about ‘safety, trust, and inherent worth’. The spliced audio of radio pronouncements and news pieces transports us through her experiences of the pandemic, framing the fear of vulnerability in this tentative connection. It captures the strangeness of our times through a personal prism, one which has at the forefront a question: Are we now only dangerous to each other? The phrase ‘a trauma response’ punctuates the poem repeatedly. Those with PTSD and/or experiences of trauma will know well how the pandemic has intersected with our wounds.”

—Sumaya Kassim, Disembodied Voices Co-editor

Listen: https://lucywritersplatform.com/2021/01/25/the-immortal-charlie-parker-by-michele-saint-michel

…

Press | Saint-Michel featured by The Today Show

The Today Show (online) - US National Coverage - January

Saint-Michel was interviewed about her book, Grief Is an Origami Swan by The Today Show. She spoke on grief, and the healing power and clarity that maintaining an art practice can bring after loss. The interview and article appeared online.

Read: https://www.today.com/parents/chrissy-teigen-shares-origami-she-made-late-son-jack-t204874

…

Featured Guest | The Experimental Film Podcast

Interviewed by Ken Hess - Episode 21

Dedicated exclusively to experimental film and its makers. Host Ken Hess is a multiple award-winning experimental filmmaker, podcaster and author. The podcast features diverse voices in the area of experimental short and feature films showcasing seasoned pros as well as emerging voices and fresh perspectives.

Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-experimental-film-podcast/id1506662792

…

2020

Film Collaboration | Interior film

‘Interior’ - Collective Experimental Exquisite Corpse Film - November

Collective experimental film with 20 other filmmakers edited and coordinated by Filmmaker Sapphire Goss. The film was selected to be featured by Moving Image Artists, an organization dedicated to supporting and cultivating contemporary moving image art and experimental film.

Watch: https://movingimageartists.co.uk/2020/11/12/interior-strand-b/

Screening | inhale / exhale films

Installation Work - Berlin, Germany + 35 International Hubs - October

inhale / exhale is an experimental film installation work and part of a broader, multi-screen work. The films screened as individual works for this festival. The pieces are in conversation with the work of film diarist Anne Charlotte Robertson and the self-portraits of artist Eleanor Antin.

Music for the work was created as a collaboration with two experimental musicians: Sam Carr and Sophie Stone. These films were produced as part of the Filmmaker-In-Residence program by the House of Beautiful Business.

…

Screening | Abyss Surrounds Us triptych

Installation Work - Berlin, Germany + 35 International Hubs - October

Abyss is an experimental, tri-screen film work and includes 'the abyss welcomes us,’ the abyss doesnt divide us,’ and ‘the abyss surrounds us.’ The latter two films screened as individual works for this festival. Music for the work was created as a collaboration with two experimental musicians: Camilo Brun and Greg Nieuwsma. The films express a Melvillian sense of much activity without substantial progress. US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo says that ruin and reinvention are inseparable. But must we give everything like Captain Ahab, or half of our body like the holothurian of Wisława Szymborska’s poem ‘autonomy’? “In danger, the holothurian cuts itself in two. / It abandons one self to a hungry world / and with the other self it flees. // It violently divides into doom and salvation, / retribution and reward, what has been and what will be. //

What are we willing to sacrifice for advancement and how many times can we cut ourselves in two? How much healing can one body take? As Szymborska says: We, too, can divide ourselves, it’s true. / But only into flesh and a broken whisper. / Into flesh and poetry. // How will you divide yourself? What are you willing to leave behind?

The two films screened were produced as part of the Filmmaker-In-Residence program by the House of Beautiful Business.

…

Guest Presenter | Great Wave Festival

Grief as Co-Creation - Berlin, Germany + 35 International Hubs - October

Led live grief-processing session with 100+ attendees of the Great Wave hybrid conference and festival. For both in-person and virtual attendees, presented Grief Is an Origami Swan book and design ideas as art philosophy and as a greater philosophy of emotional processing and healing.

…

Filmmaker in Residence | House of Beautiful Business

Various Film Projects - Berlin, Germany - September - October

In a time when everything that can be done more efficiently will be done by machines, being human will be the ultimate differentiator. The Business Romantic Society creates products, services, and platforms that make business more beautiful and humans more human.

…

Publication | Grief Is an Origami Swan art book (paperback)

Art Book - Worldwide release - August - Order the Paperback

Using black-and-white nature illustrations paired with pressed florals and grasses, Michèle Saint-Michel takes you by the hand and leads you down the path toward healing. Step-by-step instructions assist even those unfamiliar with origami to fold a paper swan. Each swan you fold is a chance to spend a little time with the one you've lost. Using Japanese design aesthetics of Ma and wabi-sabi, author and artist Michèle Saint-Michel builds a robust world where escape is possible if needed, a world of magical, flightless birds, where grief and loss can begin to be embodied and safely explored.

Begin to process your grief and remember those you’ve lost using the art form of origami. Learn to fold an origami swan using square, origami paper, and befriend the often confusing and sometimes unsettling feelings experienced during bereavement and after loss. With each origami swan you fold, think of the one you lost and honor their memory. Learn that grief has no timeline and carries no expiration. Your feelings, as confusing as they may be, are a valid and necessary part of the healing journey. For yourself or as a quiet gift for someone you love, begin the journey today with this beautifully illustrated book.

Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/16253/9780999902011 • Buy on Amazon

…

Publication | Grief Is an Origami Swan art book (eBook)

Art Book - Worldwide release - July - Order the eBook

Using black-and-white nature illustrations paired with pressed florals and grasses, Michèle Saint-Michel takes you by the hand and leads you down the path toward healing. Step-by-step instructions assist even those unfamiliar with origami to fold a paper swan. Each swan you fold is a chance to spend a little time with the one you've lost. Using Japanese design aesthetics of Ma and wabi-sabi, author and artist Michèle Saint-Michel builds a robust world where escape is possible if needed, a world of magical, flightless birds, where grief and loss can begin to be embodied and safely explored.

Begin to process your grief and remember those you’ve lost using the art form of origami. Learn to fold an origami swan using square, origami paper, and befriend the often confusing and sometimes unsettling feelings experienced during bereavement and after loss. With each origami swan you fold, think of the one you lost and honor their memory. Learn that grief has no timeline and carries no expiration. Your feelings, as confusing as they may be, are a valid and necessary part of the healing journey. For yourself or as a quiet gift for someone you love, begin the journey today with this beautifully illustrated book.

…