May 12, 2026 • 23 mins
Suné Woods explores intimacy, collaboration, nonlinear storytelling, and the balance between feeling and thinking in artistic practice. Through reflections on water, ancestry, collective care, and multisensory installation work, Woods discusses how art can create spaces for connection, sanctuary, and deeper emotional presence in an increasingly overwhelming world. The conversation also examines openness in creative work, the importance of collaboration, and why the heart often leads before the mind can understand.
Time stamps:
2:46 Finding Intimacy Through Art
3:54 Art, Protest, and Collective Healing
5:16 Water, Ancestry, and Interconnection
7:20 The Spiritual Meaning of Water
8:44 Healing Through Artistic Practice
10:17 Why Collaboration Matters
11:54 Nonlinear Storytelling and Multisensory Art
13:34 Feeling Before Thinking
14:24 Slowing Down Through Art
16:06 Nature, Technology, and Presence
16:47 Why Art Stays Open Ended
17:45 Challenging Western Artistic Frameworks
19:02 Teaching Through Personal Belief Systems
20:20 What It Means to Be Unapologetically Creative
20:58 Advice to a Younger Artist
21:45 Art as an Invitation Forward
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Often times we're being guided to how we think and not how we
feel, and I believe that it's the balance between the two,
between the heart and the mind is where, you know, really
important work can be made and shared.
Welcome to Unapologetically Creative, a podcast from the
(00:26):
Vermont College of Fine Arts, where we celebrate bold
artistry, transformative creativity, and the audacious
voices shaping the future of thearts.
I'm your host Andrew Ram Sammy and in this series we dive into
honest, inspiring conversations with artists who are pushing
boundaries and redefining what it means to create work that
(00:50):
resonates and endures. Today we have the privilege of
speaking with a multi sensory storyteller whose practice
weaves together video, collage and public presence to explore
intimacy, absence and the contours of collective memory.
Sunay Woods is a Los Angeles based artist working in multi
(01:12):
channel video installations, photography and collage.
Their critically acclaimed work,Falling to Get Here, uses the
metaphor of a word I can't even pronounce.
What is that word? What is that word Sunny?
Is is this the word? We were revisiting this.
Word. Yes, we're revisiting this word.
2017 asymptote. Asymptote.
(01:36):
You'll have to say it for me. So falling to get here was a
project that I worked on with Fred Moten, the incredible
writer, Critical theorist and Asymptote.
It. It's a mathematical term, but it
also is what is use for when we the falling to get here is a
(01:58):
project that is thinking about intimacy.
And so the Asmanto is like something that comes very, very
close together and it's trajectory, but then never
actually meets. I guess like these two lines
that come together. They never actually meet, if I'm
remembering correctly, but it was, you know, meant to, to talk
(02:22):
about intimacy, you know, and, and the circumstances, the
conditions in which we are trying to find intimacy under
state violence and, you know, like under really horrific, you
(02:44):
know, conditions. So when you take something like
that, when you take something that is trying to symbolize
proximity without that convergence, what is it that
then allows you? What does that allow you then to
do? Well, in the work in or I guess
we're speaking about having to get here and you know, it's,
(03:04):
it's thinking about intimacy. So it's utilizing and trying to
find it in how people relate to each other, you know, so you
know, for example, that that particular work came about with
conversations between me and Fred.
And, you know, he and his own work was, was thinking about
intimacy and I, I wasn't in my work.
(03:26):
So it was kind of this convergence of our practices
coming together. But during that time, it was
like this circulation of, you know, images of black folks
being killed circulating in the media, on social media and just
being bombarded with, like, the felt like overwhelming, you
(03:48):
know, conditions in which we live in the United States.
In this kind of present moment that we're living in right now,
we're being bombarded with more images, especially what just
recently happened here in Los Angeles with the ICE raids and
then the protests that were happening downtown in Los
(04:09):
Angeles. What is the role of an artist to
ensure that that doesn't become a singular narrative?
I feel that every artist has to use their voice, you know, and
every artist has a different voice.
Me personally, I feel that I want to createspace for for
people to be able to have respite, to be able to have
(04:32):
sanctuary, to be able to, you know, if you're out there on the
streets, you're a warrior and then you are, you will have
strategies to rest your mind, your body, your soul.
I'm interested in, you know, modalities of healing that that
aren't, you know, Western and that are, you know, connected to
(04:57):
the earth, connected to the water.
And so, you know, in my, in my work, in my life work, in my
practice, in my art practice, I'm, I'm articulating the ways
in which you can find healing, you know, from, from these
conditions. So you just you talked about
(05:18):
your connection in between wateras both like a material and a
metaphor and this kind of concept of, of navigating
interspecies relationships to surface the kind of
vulnerabilities of our social and cultural histories.
What is that? It's a prophecy.
(05:40):
Oh, we're going to get deep now.Prophecy.
What do you mean by that? No, you know, water is, you
know, in many traditions, it's the the realm, the spirit realm,
It's where the, the the realm ofthe ancestors.
And it's also, you know, a placelike it.
(06:01):
And you know, I think multi dimensionally through my work.
So, you know it there, there is a place where the ancestors
reside, which is, you know, the spirit realm.
But it's also a place where we occupy, you know, in global
industry and that we're polluting the waters.
But it's also a place where one can connect to the water, the
(06:25):
water spirits that are there to find a reconnection with 'cause
we, we are mostly water and you are able to connect to the
ocean, to the rivers, to the HotSprings, to reconnect to and
align and find balance. But the interspecies connections
which I've been navigating, you know, throughout my entire life,
(06:53):
work and practice is I feel that, you know, understanding
our relationship to other species or understanding
relationship to other animals iswhere we find our own healing
because we're all interconnected.
And to not see ourselves as, youknow, these dominant creatures
or that that we are, you know, to not, to not see ourselves as
(07:18):
superior. Do you get as literal as
thinking about water as being something that all truly
connects us? And especially in the fact that
water is not a new a renewable source.
It is the only source that we will ever have.
It's finite, so we share it all,we drink it all, we process it
(07:40):
all, it goes through us and it it exits out of us and then at
some point it goes back in again.
Do you get that kind of literal with thinking about water in
that way? I mean, certainly it's something
that I think about and I think Iread once that the water on the
planet is, I mean, it's always been the same amount of water.
Yes, it's finite. Right, which is?
(08:02):
Crazy, right? It's.
Fascinating, yeah. Drinking the water that George
Washington drank, right? That Harriet Tubman drank, you
know, right? Yeah.
Where does that take you as an artist?
Wait, when you think about that,and it's not just conceptual,
it's it's actually factual. It's ancestral.
Wow. Yeah.
So it's like what? What lives in our cells, in our
(08:24):
DNA, what we carry Like it's. Yeah.
I mean, if you think of it like like that, it's just like we
are, yeah, it's pretty fucking deep.
It's yeah. That we're, we're a part of the
water that has ever been, you know, we are that water.
(08:46):
When you take concepts of of thinking around intimacy,
representation, political power,especially in the in light of
what's happened to black communities not just recently
but also historically, what is it that you're trying to achieve
through your work? What are you trying to draw us
(09:08):
near to? Yeah, my focus and you know, I
guess like the manifesto and themission or the vision dream that
is in my work is sharing strategies of healing.
(09:28):
You know, I'm interested in, in acupuncture and Ayurveda and,
you know, earth based practices where you're, you know, on the
land that you're connecting withthe plants that you're, you're
speaking to the mug word that you're, you know, like you're,
you're connecting on a on a cellular level.
(09:51):
And so I'm, you know, I work with traditional healers, you
know, I am on a path of that myself.
And so it is, it's expressed through the work of these,
these, this is one way, there are many ways, this is one way
that you can can find some balance in your energy body, in
(10:15):
your spiritual body. How does rhythm, voice, and
collaboration influence your creative process?
Collaboration is, is essential to how I work.
I'm I mean, I really find working with people that I
respect with my community. It's it's kind of like collage
(10:36):
when you, you know, put two disparate things together, some
really radical, beautiful thing is birth.
And you know, I see that in collaboration, you know, and so
many unexpected surprises. So I feel like it, it is, it's
it's the way that I would love to work.
Like I don't love this individuation or individual
(10:59):
practices or even like the attention of like a a solo
artist is. You know, is there such a thing
as because I came from the worldof filmmaking, right?
That was the auteur. And I always thought that was
bullshit. There is no such thing as the
auteur or when someone says I can make a pencil.
(11:21):
No, you can't. I mean, it's very Western,
right? It's very Western.
So I think that it yeah. Like working in a collective or
a collaboration for me is is themost exciting way of working
because you're able to. I mean, it is like a band.
It is, I mean it, it is like having access to the most
(11:46):
beautiful parts of someone's imagination and that and that
all gets, you know, created together.
When you look at your work between collage, archival image,
video and perhaps other platforms and other ways in
which you communicate narrative,how does that buck up against
(12:08):
what has been traditional in thesense of how things are supposed
to be told? Well, I would say it's non
linear narrative, you know, or non linear ways of
communicating. You know, primarily these days
(12:29):
I've been working in video or video installation.
And so I'm interested in communicating in in in an
environment to give people like a lived experience, you know, to
come in, have a, you know, like you said in the beginning, the a
multi sensory experience. And so it's yeah, I feel, I'm
not sure if I'm even answering the questions.
(12:51):
No, you are. You are.
Keep going. But it's important for me to
just have people feel, you know,like I think that, you know,
often times, and I, I was sayingthis in the beginning of the
residency and even in this spaceof Cal arts like that, often
times we're being guided to how we think and not how we feel.
(13:13):
And I believe that it's the balance between the two, between
the heart and the mind is where,you know, really important work
can be made and shared. And so that that that is, you
know, the environments that I create where one can experience
work is where those two aim to have some balance.
(13:34):
So when you think about that, that that balance between
thinking and feeling, is there one that you approach first over
the other? Is there one that the artist has
more responsibility over the other?
Should they feel 1st and then that will make them think?
Or should they think 1st and that'll make them feel?
I believe it's the heart. I believe it's the heart, you
(13:54):
know, I think that's the core. So does the heart think or does
the heart feel or? The heart, the heart feels,
yeah, the heart feels. And you know, that that's the
connection that connects all of our energy bodies, like through
the heart. And that's the way that I
believe that we can heal is through love.
Love doesn't think the heart feels, you know.
(14:17):
So if we're we're meant to heal through love, it has to be
through the heart. We can control our hearts, do
you know that? Tell me about it through breath.
Tell me about it. And slowing it down.
When divers go deep into water, they can hold their breaths for
a very long time. But the only way that they're
(14:38):
able to do that and to achieve that is to slow down the rate of
their heart. That takes some serious
thinking. It takes the balance between the
two, yes. We're just going to go deep
here. We're going to, we're going to
go scientific, but also just thinking about that in that way,
then how can art also do that? To slow that person down.
(15:00):
To slow that person's heart downso that they can feel.
Absolutely, yeah. I feel that it's creating spaces
for people to be able to engage with the work, where they can
slow down. I feel like Monument Eternal, it
was a really good example of that.
(15:21):
The exhibition that was honoringAlice Coltrane Swaminitaria
Singhitananda recently at the Hammer Museum.
Did you see it? So it it it, it was a space.
It was kind of like a sanctuary,you know, like immediately when
you walked in, your heart rate slowed down, you know, And there
were 19 artists, I believe I wasone of them that was in it.
(15:44):
And what I created was this space where people could sit and
be with this 2 channel installation and the the sound
so like the environment was created for people to to be with
the work slower, you know, or intheir own timing.
(16:05):
What other techniques could an artist use to slow things down?
They can put down their phone getting outdoors.
You know, I feel like being in nature and learning from nature.
There's so much wisdom, you know, that I feel like we've, we
(16:26):
forget, you know, being engaged in technology all the time or
just being on or having screens in front of us.
Like I feel like getting outsideof walls, you know, that will
will help people to slow down, help people to to connect with
(16:46):
who they really are. Have you ever resisted resolving
in your work clarity and preferred instead to leave
intimacy or a representation, orjust leaving something just more
open-ended so that there isn't any finality to it?
It's all open-ended. I don't think there's any
resolve, honestly. I mean, there's an end point,
(17:07):
you know, like there's I can say, OK, this is complete.
I'm moving on from that. Or, you know, this was
particular moment in my life experience where I needed to
process this, but it's I feel like it's all of it is
open-ended. There's no, there's no like
that's I feel a Western concept for something to be complete.
(17:30):
You know, we're, we're, we're incycles all the time, you know,
like we're in a cycle of life. We're, I mean, you know,
depending on your belief system we're in, we're in a cycle of
incarnation. So there there is no completion.
When you have discussions with artists and you've mentioned the
Western kind of gaze and point of view several times, how
(17:54):
emphatic or how transparent are you about that in your
conversation? Is that something that you
ground in the conversation with someone, or do you just give
your perspective, but without having to necessarily say that
what you're doing is trying to counter that Western narrative
you. Mean in the.
Art in the art or even in your critiques as a faculty member
(18:15):
right now as you're doing your crits and walking around from,
you know, exhibition to exhibition to presentation to
presentation. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm
pretty honest about it. You know, even in my my
presentation where I shared someof my work in the beginning of,
(18:36):
well, yesterday, it was like it was a whole week.
That's what happens when you come to residency.
But I shared kind of even just because I used to teach Cal Arts
and just was sharing how, you know, where I was at that
particular time and where I am now and what I believe now.
(18:57):
And so I I do feel like I'm honest about.
Is that imbuing upon someone your philosophy, your
philosophy? Is it OK to do that as an
artist? Because it seems that the
pendulum has been swinging so many ways, back and forth, back
and forth, back and forth. Yeah, of course it is because I
(19:19):
feel like it, I preface it, whether this is what I believe,
not necessarily that you have tobelieve what I believe or, you
know, there are many ways of making art.
There are many art worlds, you know.
So I, I think that it's, you know, my belief system isn't the
only, you know, belief system, you know, So I think that like,
(19:44):
it's, it's I, you know, like theway that I teach is like we come
with our own experience, our ownbias, you know, like everybody,
right? Everybody that is anything that
comes out of their mouth is coming from a biased place.
And it's all subjective. So, you know, I think I try to
(20:04):
share that, you know. Or I do share that.
And, and also, you know, I feel like it's important to be aware
of, you know, like where one is historically in, in a
contemporary or context. So I share that.
As well, what does it mean to you to be unapologetically
creative, especially in this kind of very politically charged
(20:28):
time? What's coming to me is being
having conviction, being honest,being collaborative, working in
collectivity, and is being in service to your community.
(20:51):
You know, 'cause we're it. It's a it's a really, really,
really difficult time right now.If you could speak to your
younger self, finding your voicein either collage or video, what
would you say to that younger self?
I would tell Younger Sunny that there will be a time where there
(21:17):
will be no censors, no boundaries on on what you share.
It will be completely free in your expression that you are
supported, that the president isgoing to give you some funds.
OK. And that is going to be OK.
(21:42):
You know, like it's going to be OK.
How do you help audiences carry forward the tension, openness,
or persistent proximity of your work long after they see it?
I believe it's an invitation, you know, like the the work is
an invitation, an invitation to understand something differently
(22:06):
under an invitation to have a conversation perhaps about what
they experienced in the work. It's an invitation.
So maybe speak to somebody differently than they may have
spoken to them or to honor someone that maybe they haven't
honored. It depends, you know, like on
(22:27):
what what that work is. But I feel like there's there's
lots of invitations that are shared in the work of how one
can move forward in in their ownlife.
As we wrap up, Sunay reminds us that art isn't about resolution,
it's about invitation. An invitation to slow down and
(22:51):
to reconnect with ourselves, with each other and the world
around us. And maybe most importantly, an
invitation to carry something forward, whether it's a
conversation, a shift in perspective, or a different way
of showing up. Thanks for listening to
Unapologetically Creative. Be sure to follow the show and
(23:12):
stay tuned for more insightful conversations in the episodes
ahead. To learn more about the Vermont
College of Fine Arts, visit vcfa.edu.
Often times we're being guided to how we think and not how we
feel, and I believe that it's the balance between the two,
between the heart and the mind is where, you know, really
important work can be made and shared.
Welcome to Unapologetically Creative, a podcast from the
(00:26):
Vermont College of Fine Arts, where we celebrate bold
artistry, transformative creativity, and the audacious
voices shaping the future of thearts.
I'm your host Andrew Ram Sammy and in this series we dive into
honest, inspiring conversations with artists who are pushing
boundaries and redefining what it means to create work that
(00:50):
resonates and endures. Today we have the privilege of
speaking with a multi sensory storyteller whose practice
weaves together video, collage and public presence to explore
intimacy, absence and the contours of collective memory.
Sunay Woods is a Los Angeles based artist working in multi
(01:12):
channel video installations, photography and collage.
Their critically acclaimed work,Falling to Get Here, uses the
metaphor of a word I can't even pronounce.
What is that word? What is that word Sunny?
Is is this the word? We were revisiting this.
Word. Yes, we're revisiting this word.
2017 asymptote. Asymptote.
(01:36):
You'll have to say it for me. So falling to get here was a
project that I worked on with Fred Moten, the incredible
writer, Critical theorist and Asymptote.
It. It's a mathematical term, but it
also is what is use for when we the falling to get here is a
(01:58):
project that is thinking about intimacy.
And so the Asmanto is like something that comes very, very
close together and it's trajectory, but then never
actually meets. I guess like these two lines
that come together. They never actually meet, if I'm
remembering correctly, but it was, you know, meant to, to talk
(02:22):
about intimacy, you know, and, and the circumstances, the
conditions in which we are trying to find intimacy under
state violence and, you know, like under really horrific, you
(02:44):
know, conditions. So when you take something like
that, when you take something that is trying to symbolize
proximity without that convergence, what is it that
then allows you? What does that allow you then to
do? Well, in the work in or I guess
we're speaking about having to get here and you know, it's,
(03:04):
it's thinking about intimacy. So it's utilizing and trying to
find it in how people relate to each other, you know, so you
know, for example, that that particular work came about with
conversations between me and Fred.
And, you know, he and his own work was, was thinking about
intimacy and I, I wasn't in my work.
(03:26):
So it was kind of this convergence of our practices
coming together. But during that time, it was
like this circulation of, you know, images of black folks
being killed circulating in the media, on social media and just
being bombarded with, like, the felt like overwhelming, you
(03:48):
know, conditions in which we live in the United States.
In this kind of present moment that we're living in right now,
we're being bombarded with more images, especially what just
recently happened here in Los Angeles with the ICE raids and
then the protests that were happening downtown in Los
(04:09):
Angeles. What is the role of an artist to
ensure that that doesn't become a singular narrative?
I feel that every artist has to use their voice, you know, and
every artist has a different voice.
Me personally, I feel that I want to createspace for for
people to be able to have respite, to be able to have
(04:32):
sanctuary, to be able to, you know, if you're out there on the
streets, you're a warrior and then you are, you will have
strategies to rest your mind, your body, your soul.
I'm interested in, you know, modalities of healing that that
aren't, you know, Western and that are, you know, connected to
(04:57):
the earth, connected to the water.
And so, you know, in my, in my work, in my life work, in my
practice, in my art practice, I'm, I'm articulating the ways
in which you can find healing, you know, from, from these
conditions. So you just you talked about
(05:18):
your connection in between wateras both like a material and a
metaphor and this kind of concept of, of navigating
interspecies relationships to surface the kind of
vulnerabilities of our social and cultural histories.
What is that? It's a prophecy.
(05:40):
Oh, we're going to get deep now.Prophecy.
What do you mean by that? No, you know, water is, you
know, in many traditions, it's the the realm, the spirit realm,
It's where the, the the realm ofthe ancestors.
And it's also, you know, a placelike it.
(06:01):
And you know, I think multi dimensionally through my work.
So, you know it there, there is a place where the ancestors
reside, which is, you know, the spirit realm.
But it's also a place where we occupy, you know, in global
industry and that we're polluting the waters.
But it's also a place where one can connect to the water, the
(06:25):
water spirits that are there to find a reconnection with 'cause
we, we are mostly water and you are able to connect to the
ocean, to the rivers, to the HotSprings, to reconnect to and
align and find balance. But the interspecies connections
which I've been navigating, you know, throughout my entire life,
(06:53):
work and practice is I feel that, you know, understanding
our relationship to other species or understanding
relationship to other animals iswhere we find our own healing
because we're all interconnected.
And to not see ourselves as, youknow, these dominant creatures
or that that we are, you know, to not, to not see ourselves as
(07:18):
superior. Do you get as literal as
thinking about water as being something that all truly
connects us? And especially in the fact that
water is not a new a renewable source.
It is the only source that we will ever have.
It's finite, so we share it all,we drink it all, we process it
(07:40):
all, it goes through us and it it exits out of us and then at
some point it goes back in again.
Do you get that kind of literal with thinking about water in
that way? I mean, certainly it's something
that I think about and I think Iread once that the water on the
planet is, I mean, it's always been the same amount of water.
Yes, it's finite. Right, which is?
(08:02):
Crazy, right? It's.
Fascinating, yeah. Drinking the water that George
Washington drank, right? That Harriet Tubman drank, you
know, right? Yeah.
Where does that take you as an artist?
Wait, when you think about that,and it's not just conceptual,
it's it's actually factual. It's ancestral.
Wow. Yeah.
So it's like what? What lives in our cells, in our
(08:24):
DNA, what we carry Like it's. Yeah.
I mean, if you think of it like like that, it's just like we
are, yeah, it's pretty fucking deep.
It's yeah. That we're, we're a part of the
water that has ever been, you know, we are that water.
(08:46):
When you take concepts of of thinking around intimacy,
representation, political power,especially in the in light of
what's happened to black communities not just recently
but also historically, what is it that you're trying to achieve
through your work? What are you trying to draw us
(09:08):
near to? Yeah, my focus and you know, I
guess like the manifesto and themission or the vision dream that
is in my work is sharing strategies of healing.
(09:28):
You know, I'm interested in, in acupuncture and Ayurveda and,
you know, earth based practices where you're, you know, on the
land that you're connecting withthe plants that you're, you're
speaking to the mug word that you're, you know, like you're,
you're connecting on a on a cellular level.
(09:51):
And so I'm, you know, I work with traditional healers, you
know, I am on a path of that myself.
And so it is, it's expressed through the work of these,
these, this is one way, there are many ways, this is one way
that you can can find some balance in your energy body, in
(10:15):
your spiritual body. How does rhythm, voice, and
collaboration influence your creative process?
Collaboration is, is essential to how I work.
I'm I mean, I really find working with people that I
respect with my community. It's it's kind of like collage
(10:36):
when you, you know, put two disparate things together, some
really radical, beautiful thing is birth.
And you know, I see that in collaboration, you know, and so
many unexpected surprises. So I feel like it, it is, it's
it's the way that I would love to work.
Like I don't love this individuation or individual
(10:59):
practices or even like the attention of like a a solo
artist is. You know, is there such a thing
as because I came from the worldof filmmaking, right?
That was the auteur. And I always thought that was
bullshit. There is no such thing as the
auteur or when someone says I can make a pencil.
(11:21):
No, you can't. I mean, it's very Western,
right? It's very Western.
So I think that it yeah. Like working in a collective or
a collaboration for me is is themost exciting way of working
because you're able to. I mean, it is like a band.
It is, I mean it, it is like having access to the most
(11:46):
beautiful parts of someone's imagination and that and that
all gets, you know, created together.
When you look at your work between collage, archival image,
video and perhaps other platforms and other ways in
which you communicate narrative,how does that buck up against
(12:08):
what has been traditional in thesense of how things are supposed
to be told? Well, I would say it's non
linear narrative, you know, or non linear ways of
communicating. You know, primarily these days
(12:29):
I've been working in video or video installation.
And so I'm interested in communicating in in in an
environment to give people like a lived experience, you know, to
come in, have a, you know, like you said in the beginning, the a
multi sensory experience. And so it's yeah, I feel, I'm
not sure if I'm even answering the questions.
(12:51):
No, you are. You are.
Keep going. But it's important for me to
just have people feel, you know,like I think that, you know,
often times, and I, I was sayingthis in the beginning of the
residency and even in this spaceof Cal arts like that, often
times we're being guided to how we think and not how we feel.
(13:13):
And I believe that it's the balance between the two, between
the heart and the mind is where,you know, really important work
can be made and shared. And so that that that is, you
know, the environments that I create where one can experience
work is where those two aim to have some balance.
(13:34):
So when you think about that, that that balance between
thinking and feeling, is there one that you approach first over
the other? Is there one that the artist has
more responsibility over the other?
Should they feel 1st and then that will make them think?
Or should they think 1st and that'll make them feel?
I believe it's the heart. I believe it's the heart, you
(13:54):
know, I think that's the core. So does the heart think or does
the heart feel or? The heart, the heart feels,
yeah, the heart feels. And you know, that that's the
connection that connects all of our energy bodies, like through
the heart. And that's the way that I
believe that we can heal is through love.
Love doesn't think the heart feels, you know.
(14:17):
So if we're we're meant to heal through love, it has to be
through the heart. We can control our hearts, do
you know that? Tell me about it through breath.
Tell me about it. And slowing it down.
When divers go deep into water, they can hold their breaths for
a very long time. But the only way that they're
(14:38):
able to do that and to achieve that is to slow down the rate of
their heart. That takes some serious
thinking. It takes the balance between the
two, yes. We're just going to go deep
here. We're going to, we're going to
go scientific, but also just thinking about that in that way,
then how can art also do that? To slow that person down.
(15:00):
To slow that person's heart downso that they can feel.
Absolutely, yeah. I feel that it's creating spaces
for people to be able to engage with the work, where they can
slow down. I feel like Monument Eternal, it
was a really good example of that.
(15:21):
The exhibition that was honoringAlice Coltrane Swaminitaria
Singhitananda recently at the Hammer Museum.
Did you see it? So it it it, it was a space.
It was kind of like a sanctuary,you know, like immediately when
you walked in, your heart rate slowed down, you know, And there
were 19 artists, I believe I wasone of them that was in it.
(15:44):
And what I created was this space where people could sit and
be with this 2 channel installation and the the sound
so like the environment was created for people to to be with
the work slower, you know, or intheir own timing.
(16:05):
What other techniques could an artist use to slow things down?
They can put down their phone getting outdoors.
You know, I feel like being in nature and learning from nature.
There's so much wisdom, you know, that I feel like we've, we
(16:26):
forget, you know, being engaged in technology all the time or
just being on or having screens in front of us.
Like I feel like getting outsideof walls, you know, that will
will help people to slow down, help people to to connect with
(16:46):
who they really are. Have you ever resisted resolving
in your work clarity and preferred instead to leave
intimacy or a representation, orjust leaving something just more
open-ended so that there isn't any finality to it?
It's all open-ended. I don't think there's any
resolve, honestly. I mean, there's an end point,
(17:07):
you know, like there's I can say, OK, this is complete.
I'm moving on from that. Or, you know, this was
particular moment in my life experience where I needed to
process this, but it's I feel like it's all of it is
open-ended. There's no, there's no like
that's I feel a Western concept for something to be complete.
(17:30):
You know, we're, we're, we're incycles all the time, you know,
like we're in a cycle of life. We're, I mean, you know,
depending on your belief system we're in, we're in a cycle of
incarnation. So there there is no completion.
When you have discussions with artists and you've mentioned the
Western kind of gaze and point of view several times, how
(17:54):
emphatic or how transparent are you about that in your
conversation? Is that something that you
ground in the conversation with someone, or do you just give
your perspective, but without having to necessarily say that
what you're doing is trying to counter that Western narrative
you. Mean in the.
Art in the art or even in your critiques as a faculty member
(18:15):
right now as you're doing your crits and walking around from,
you know, exhibition to exhibition to presentation to
presentation. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm
pretty honest about it. You know, even in my my
presentation where I shared someof my work in the beginning of,
(18:36):
well, yesterday, it was like it was a whole week.
That's what happens when you come to residency.
But I shared kind of even just because I used to teach Cal Arts
and just was sharing how, you know, where I was at that
particular time and where I am now and what I believe now.
(18:57):
And so I I do feel like I'm honest about.
Is that imbuing upon someone your philosophy, your
philosophy? Is it OK to do that as an
artist? Because it seems that the
pendulum has been swinging so many ways, back and forth, back
and forth, back and forth. Yeah, of course it is because I
(19:19):
feel like it, I preface it, whether this is what I believe,
not necessarily that you have tobelieve what I believe or, you
know, there are many ways of making art.
There are many art worlds, you know.
So I, I think that it's, you know, my belief system isn't the
only, you know, belief system, you know, So I think that like,
(19:44):
it's, it's I, you know, like theway that I teach is like we come
with our own experience, our ownbias, you know, like everybody,
right? Everybody that is anything that
comes out of their mouth is coming from a biased place.
And it's all subjective. So, you know, I think I try to
(20:04):
share that, you know. Or I do share that.
And, and also, you know, I feel like it's important to be aware
of, you know, like where one is historically in, in a
contemporary or context. So I share that.
As well, what does it mean to you to be unapologetically
creative, especially in this kind of very politically charged
(20:28):
time? What's coming to me is being
having conviction, being honest,being collaborative, working in
collectivity, and is being in service to your community.
(20:51):
You know, 'cause we're it. It's a it's a really, really,
really difficult time right now.If you could speak to your
younger self, finding your voicein either collage or video, what
would you say to that younger self?
I would tell Younger Sunny that there will be a time where there
(21:17):
will be no censors, no boundaries on on what you share.
It will be completely free in your expression that you are
supported, that the president isgoing to give you some funds.
OK. And that is going to be OK.
(21:42):
You know, like it's going to be OK.
How do you help audiences carry forward the tension, openness,
or persistent proximity of your work long after they see it?
I believe it's an invitation, you know, like the the work is
an invitation, an invitation to understand something differently
(22:06):
under an invitation to have a conversation perhaps about what
they experienced in the work. It's an invitation.
So maybe speak to somebody differently than they may have
spoken to them or to honor someone that maybe they haven't
honored. It depends, you know, like on
(22:27):
what what that work is. But I feel like there's there's
lots of invitations that are shared in the work of how one
can move forward in in their ownlife.
As we wrap up, Sunay reminds us that art isn't about resolution,
it's about invitation. An invitation to slow down and
(22:51):
to reconnect with ourselves, with each other and the world
around us. And maybe most importantly, an
invitation to carry something forward, whether it's a
conversation, a shift in perspective, or a different way
of showing up. Thanks for listening to
Unapologetically Creative. Be sure to follow the show and
(23:12):
stay tuned for more insightful conversations in the episodes
ahead. To learn more about the Vermont
College of Fine Arts, visit vcfa.edu.
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