two videos for eva newman whitneyEva Newman Whitney is a writer, filmmaker, friend, and former human. She works primarily on her YouTube series “My Big Bad Blog” where she documents her life through a Jeanne Dielman-esque lens with a hint of humor. She is also known for her Instagram account mypigeonreligion where she creates skits—notably and most recently, How I Found Out Santa Wasn’t Real at 22 Years Old. Eva and Lark met three years ago in Berkeley’s Video Foundations class where they worked together on multiple videos such as a silent experimental interview. From that class, they built a wonderful friendship full of memories in Rome, Nice, and all over Berkeley. Lark likes to think that Eva now likely spends her time as a corner store cat roaming the streets of New York or as a mouse in a forest strawberry bush. |
How do we take in the weather?, 2025. Video installation. There is so much to say and I don't know how to get it all down. The work's title How do we take in the weather? came from a short poem I wrote about my very cherished friendship with Eva and an October weekend we shared in Rome. A few of its lines go like this: Sandpaper covers my skin, flaking. The dry sun of a mid-October heatwave. It’ll rain in two weeks time But for now, it’s hot. Even though the sun sets early. How do we take in the weather? Let rain seep through us, raisin our fingertips Wind stuck in my scarf Raise the hairs on my neck and call them goosebumps. Maybe it’s just one way of taking in the time. This question, How do we take in the weather?, addresses this impossibility of remembering and holding onto someone so dear and yet fleeting, how memory clings and physically manifests, and how our skin processes and holds moments and time. Loss and presence are felt all at once, and it's both overwhelming and meditative. Shifting weather traces time, otherwise I lose track of the days passing. The weight of time moving forward is excruciating and also maybe beautiful. How do you reconnect with someone who is no longer here? I don't think I know; but I'm trying. |
Eva Newman Whitney and Lark, strawberry season II, 2025. Two-channel video, two good friends, two pounds of strawberries. 3:28
I first met Eva in a video class three years ago. I knew I wanted to be friends with her when I watched this video of her, very effortlessly recording herself eating strawberries in her "Big Bad Blog". About a week after she passed, some of her friends and I planted a tree called a strawberry tree (it doesn't grow strawberries, but it flowers in the spring) in her memory. Eva and I didn't eat that many strawberries when we were friends. We ate a lot of gelato, gnocchi, salami, hot dogs, and once a very delicious matzo ball soup. But, even so, strawberries remind me of her. And so, in an attempt to feel closer to her, I recreated her video and put them in dialogue.
Lark, what did the sun taste like / i'm terrified of forgetting, 2025. Painted and hand-scratched 16mm film leader, india ink, needle. Original audio collage with various recorded sounds, words from Eva's dear friend Nina, and found sounds. 4:59.
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