The Isolation Project
This project was born out of a desire for creativity and connection during a time of isolation and limitation.
The Isolation Project was inspired by the intersection of family, food, and history. The musical arrangements of Carlos Gardel’s famous tango ‘El Dia Que Me Quieras’ and the Italian canzonetta, ‘Anema E Core’, serve as a backdrop for the tableaux created and filmed by Romi Gold. The video follows the story of a creative lineage and artistry in a family, honoring the patriarch’s greatest loves: opera, art, and food. These are the stories that live within all of our family recipes.
Romi Gold, a multimedia performance artist based in NY, has isolated herself during the Covid-19 crisis in Valentine, TX, where this video was shot. Her creative direction was inspired by the art of tableau, director, Sergei Parajanov and filmmaker, Věra Chytilová.
The silk dress featured in the first tableau was hand stitched by the artist, the props were found only in the house she stayed in during isolation, and the entire video was filmed in one room, over the course of ten straight hours. The Isolation Project was shot on an iPhone 5s and edited on VSCO.
The audio portion of The Isolation Project was recorded in a studio apartment over the course of a few hours in May 2019 and never materialized visually until now. We held onto the media knowing we wanted to repurpose it for future use. This musical recording became the foundation for our collaboration with Ms. Gold and holds a heavy importance for us in the context of family connection and artistic freedom.