Artists-in-residence 2011: Fran Borgia, Kika Nicolela, Aubrey Edwards
Fran Borgia
Born in southern Spain and based in Singapore, Fran Borgia studied filmmaking in London, Barcelona and Singapore. In 2004, he wrote and directed his first short film in 35mm, ASIA. He shot Para Asia, in 2007. In 2008, Fran produced and co-directed The King Lear Project, a three-parts theatre performance commissioned by KunstenFestivaldesArts in Brussels and the Singapore Arts Festival. In 2009, he produced, wrote and directed Film Faust for Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre Studios, a theatre production inspired by Goethe’s masterpiece.
Fran was the Producer and Editor for Here, Ho Tzu Nyen’s first feature film that was presented at the 41st Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2009; and for the medium-length film, Earth, presented at the 66th Venice Film Festival 2009. He has also produced Masala Mama, a short film presented at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival 2010; Sandcastle, Boo Junfeng’s first feature film that premiered at the 49th Critics’ Week, Cannes Film Festival 2010; Tiong Bahru by Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor, a short film presented at the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011; The Meaning of Style by British artist Phil Collins, presented at the Singapore Biennale 2011; and The Cloud of Unknowing by Ho Tzu Nyen, presented at the Singapore Pavilion – 54th Venice Biennale of Art 2011.
During the residency, Fran worked with the film students and lecturers from the Puttman School of Film at Lasalle College of the Arts to shoot and edit a 5-channel video installation Black and White and Silence. The work was part of the Art Incubator 3 Group Exhibition at Praxis Space at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lasalle in Nov 2011.
Kika Nicolela
With videos screened and awarded in festival of 40 countries and participation in nearly 100 solo and group exhibitions worldwide, Kika Nicolela is a Brazilian artist, filmmaker and curator whose works range from art videos, video-installations and photography to documentary features and short films.
She was the recipient of several grants and was artist-in-residence at Gyeonggi Creation Center (South Korea), Künstlerdorf Schöppingen Foundation (Germany), Rondo Studio (Austria) and Sumu AIR (Finland), among others. Nicolela is represented by Vtape, videoart distributer based in Toronto, and DConcept, a São Paulo based art gallery.
Kika worked on an on-going project, The Film That Is Not There whilst in Singapore. The project deconstructs a film that will never exist as a unity. Working with local actors a Singaporean producer, the film was showcased on the Objectifs rooftop at the completion of her residency.
Aubrey Edwards
Aubrey Edwards is a Brooklyn and New Orleans-based portrait photographer and educator. She was an award-winning, primary music photographer for the alt-weekly Austin Chronicle from 2004-2008; her present client list includes the United Nations, Magnolia Pictures, Playboy, SPIN, XXL and Comedy Central.
Aubrey teaches photography and videography in low-income NYC public schools as well as with continuing adult education; she is the founder of the Veterans Photo Project , providing therapeutic photo workshops to homeless veterans in Brooklyn. Her recent work in New Orleans includes guest lecturing with the University of New Orleans photo department, conducting workshops with the New Orleans Kid Camera Project, and completing an artist residency with Louisiana Artworks.Her project, Where They At: New Orleans Bounce and Hip Hop in Words and Pictures, recently closed at the Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of Southern Art, and is presently on display at Berlin’s Direktorenhaus.
For her residency project at Objectifs, Gold Dust, Aubrey researched and documented the transgendered community in Singapore. Her final project included archival photos, portraits of existing members of the community (pre- and post-operation) and recorded oral histories of these participants. The completed project can be seen on her website.
