My Eyes
(Three minute extract)
Duration: 9 min
‘My Eyes’ combines two sources of found footage. Videos collected from online astral projection communities, and crueller clips sourced from forums obsessed with filming strangers and lovers in states of vulnerable unconscious or narcotic disorder. Both communities have a common desire to find a fleshy visceral reality within the alienating effect of the digital realm. The film stems from a chance encounter with ReeceJones87 YouTube channel. ReeceJones87 is in his late teens and speaks in a monologue tone about his experiences of Astral Projection. He has a desire to be ‘real’, to attempt the near impossible by trying to describe a visceral experience of leaving his body. By using social media such as YouTube, his attempt to be genuine is overpowered by the superficial manner in which such media is consumed. The importance of an online presence, and the collective anxiety associated with connecting and projecting ourselves to the world has resulted in a dislocation of body from self and identity. This represent a desire to confess, parade and display our vulnerability to a largely anonymous collective.