Kristie Alshaibi

An adventure in pornographic surrealism.

A young Muslim Dominatrix in the midst of a spiritual crisis.

Formally, an intriguing depiction of video as forward motion, or as technology of road movies and dreams. Alshaibi intercuts footage of a Southeastern Asian trip with a young man’s venereal disease-influenced fantasies of a strange young woman.

In a pseudo sci-fi trip of pornographic proportions. In Other People's Mirrors, the camera feels like an extension of the unstable characters it is following, taking on a near-home-movie style documentation of street performance and improvised art. It centers around the journey of Echo Transgression, a schizophrenic sex addict, who believes that if she follows the instructions being transmitted directly into her spine, then she will escape to her own version of nirvana. Underground legend Nick Zedd plays the alien phantom of Narcissus, a secret agent who makes sure she stays on course.

What is preventing these people from completing video penetration?

Close-up of a woman crying.

A woman is chased across a field by an unseen assailant.

Study of a schizophrenic girl in her own language.

A woman lying on a hardwood floor covered in plastic wrap.

Muhammad Zeromski, raised in Iraq and Poland, returns to the U.S. after being away for almost a year. The climate he enters is ominous and confused. He meets a woman who calls herself Jane Doe. They share a common fear and are drawn to one another through their paranoia.

"Signal Cross Over is about assisted love suicide and the noisy transition into the afterlife. He is dead and, with his guidance, she will join him via a ritualized live cremation process. Shot on an old studio tube camera from 1983, all effects were done live with alcohol, glass, fire, and lights. The sounds were also created using old technology: a burning ear cone/candle, a police scanner, and a Theremin. The music of the afterlife consists of old-time Gospel, Hindu devotionals, an Islamic call to prayer, and pre-Christian Celtic folk singing. The songs were shredded, performed, and then remixed to signify all of the souls passing on." - Kristie Alshaibi

Chicago, 2008.