***We Suggest Starting At The Beginning*** ^^Sin/Cos/Tan Everywhere ^^
Obfuscation Dot Surf:
When asked what exactly this series of roughly 60 short films (which ran from september 2014 to September 2015) was about, Surfer/Filmmaker Pat Noyes (who, was born and raised in the shadow of the Windy City) said this: "First of all please understand that as a creative person, I am always growing and changing, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, and know that this is just a snapshot of my work. I have since moved on to other topics and continued to refine my writing style, which involves working with a certain amount of raw footage within a different set of parameters, and that is a lot less exciting and interesting than I made it sound, trust me. The time I spent actually working on each of these short films was basically meditation on Identity. I collected most of the footage between 2012 and 2014 at various locations on the Great Lakes, which is where I learned to surf, and felt like I ‘became a surfer’.
Surfing is in its infancy on fresh water right, it's not something that is accessible to kids, unless you have some seriously cool parents, so most people people are raised one way, and only start surfing once they gain some independence of adulthood. And they tend to start acting like they are from somewhere else, probably because they buy into the many fanciful associations that Surf and Lifestyle Companies have created and pushed on us to sell their products (don’t get me wrong, I’m specifically referring to surf companies that are owned by committees of people who don’t even surf wink wink). I have observed that change in people of all walks of life, as humans start to identify themselves through other well developed activities, for instance, people who play Baseball or Tennis or Hockey or who go to Comic Conventions or Yacht Conventions, or have gone through the process to become a PhD, JD, or MD, start using specialized lingo, and insider jokes or whatever. Unless fought internally, these little things slowly cover up more and more of peoples' human essence, which is difficult to define specifically without completely destroying, in order to demonstrate to the world that they are clearly a part of this larger identity.
In my mind we midwesterner surfers should bend existing Surf Culture over the hood of our old trucks, new electric cars, Snow Mobiles and Peterbilts and give it a good pounding from behind, on a winter night, in a forest of Pine, Oak, and Maple Trees next to a nice roaring Birchbark fire, quietly and politely of course. Then wake up and make it Coffee and a Pasty...and sweet talk it into slowly changing for us instead of us for it.
I am not trying to create a Midwestern Surfing Archetype. Just saying that it is so much easier to just accept whatever is already produced and clearly labeled than it is to make something from raw materials. And I wanted to fight that instinct, to sacrifice being easy to pin down, in search of something deeper, and try and present that personal struggle to the audience (individual truth v. mask everyone recognizes)....
Finally, I ask this of the viewer to bring the following cornerstones of Midwestern Values to the viewing: Acceptance, Patience, and a Willingness of Spirit. Let the material breathe and have it's own life, instead of trying to quickly develop an opinion about each piece individually. If you don't like the work that is fine, I want it to mean something different to you than it does to me. And I hope it inspires you to be comfortable in your own personal struggle to find identity beyond a mask."
You can follow along with Pat’s Latest Project here:
http://hfbwave.tumblr.com/
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