Introducing Mozawa's Y Portraits

As I edge toward my 30th birthday, I find myself excited, nervous, nostalgic, and frankly a little shocked. Shocked at the speed of time - shocked that know as much as I know and am as competent as I am - shocked at how truly clueless knowledge has made me feel and how far I have yet to travel - shocked that I have simultaneously experienced so much and so very little for my age - (shocked at how relative everything is and how wishywashy and general my "shocking" revelations are...) 

I foresee my 30th birthday as follows-- 
It is my third or fourth day as a resident of Los Angeles. I am couch surfing, but already working on a project or two in my new homeland. I am slightly whiplashed and exhausted blind. Yet the raw belief that ANYTHING is about to happen turns that exhaustion to exhilaration and energy. I have just left the loving arms of my family, my city, my community but I can feel them reaching out ready to catch me at anytime. Therefore, I am confident and ready to continue the journey- and besides, I have left a proxy. She is just about my height, my shape, her face follows the same curves as mine, and she contains pieces of my experience. The major difference between her and I? I am a human. She is a puppet.

This puppet will be my contribution to Mozawa's Y Portraits. And in the coming month I'll be blogging the creation process. What is this "Y Portraits"? Glad you asked. The following is from the Mozawa website (mozawa.org):

"The Millennials have been called 'The Peter Pan Generation' due to their apparent unwillingness to grow up, 'Generation Me' for their obsession with social media, and 'Generation Y' merely because they follow 'Generation X'. But do these labels capture the intelligence, passion, and variety of an entire generation? In Y Portraits, a collection of international Millennial artists will each develop a self-portrait in their chosen medium, including live dramatic and musical performance, visual art, sound, and film. Through this interdisciplinary artistic exploration, Mozawa presents a new vision of the 'Y Generation.'"

Matt Ozawa and I first worked together at Oberlin College over 10 years ago. When he called me a few years ago and told me he was starting Mozawa I actually cried because this man is one of the most creative, talented, kindest people I know and his art makes the world a more beautiful place. Though he is great at heading the directing staff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and traveling around directing amazing shows for companies around the universe, it is about time he has a team behind him executing his vision. I'm so excited to have been part of his first Mozawa production, Fallen, in October 2014. And now I get to explore myself and put me out there for all to see as part of Y Portraits in July 2015. Yippee! 

So stay tuned to this station. And in the mean time, learn more about Mozawa by clicking here.