2024 recap

Hi everyone! Happy new year.

One update: I'm finishing Take Off the Blindfold as my thesis film at SAIC, so it's going to be completely done in the next few months, or else I can't graduate.

Still working on the other stuff! But I need that kick in the pants to get it done. I'm so close...

Also- Tomorrow on Jan 1 I'm livestreaming the full 2024 Transfiguration program at 7PM CST. Join in!

Stuff that happened to Johni Peepers in 2024:

I started my film festival, Transfiguration International Film Festival, and it went really great! We took the festival to Pleasure Dome in Toronto, Human Resources in Los Angeles, and Dirt Palace in Providence. Next year I want to take it to more places. Watch out!

Started my documentary series Talent Show, and finished 5 episodes in the first half of 2024. Check it out in the Patreon Google Drive, or on Gumroad for free.

I did some video work for Aram Han Sifuentes and HANA Center in Chicago.

I did guest animation for “One Investigations”.

My classes in the Spring Semester were “Mass Demonstration: Art, Politics and Collective Action in Asia”, “China/Avant-Garde: Contemporary Chinese Art Since the 1970s” both with Jennifer Dorothy Lee, “Colonialism, Orientalism and Primitivism in 19th century India and Southeast Asia” with Nora Taylor, and “The Long Poem” with Peter O’Leary.

Pleasure Dome in Toronto hosted a retrospective of Wasteland, and let me do Transfiguration in their theater!

I gave guest talks at Parsons School of Design, Wayne State University, Maryland College of Art and Design and Columbia College.

I did the signal film for Mammoth Lakes Film Festival.

At school, I received a travel grant, which allowed me to go to Korea to start a longterm research and documentary project.

I did a music video for Frogs in a Pond.

And then another music video for Macbook Orchestra.

Finished my first live action feature, Smelling the Dirt and the Coming Rain, to essentially no fanfare or any intrigue or festival acceptances.. But that’s okay.. Made it for the sake of making it.. Onto the next one.. People who actually watched it seemed like they liked it... Cest la vie...

I started a new live action feature with my friends, called White Person. It’s about a group of Asian-American art students who start to critically examine their identities while realizing the institution they’re in systematically excludes them, among other things. I made this drawing of my friends who are starring in it:

The classes I took in the Fall semester were “Handmade Cinema” with Tatsu Aoki, “Video Installation” with Tirtza Even, “Buzzfeeds: The Poetics of Speculation” with Kristi Ann McGuire, and “Chaosmotic Systems” with Garrett Johnson.

In my video installation class, I got my mind totally blown!

A lecture Tirtza gave on the first day was actually the thing that made me decide to take my work off of YouTube. The lecture was about the importance of context, artistically motivated limitation, ephemeral work, moving work from one space to another, dignity, respect, and the relationship between viewer - environment - content of the work. It affirmed some thoughts I was having already so I decided to make the scary jump that I did.

Some of my projects in Installation class: Body Scan, The Brittle Brine of the Ocean and the Fish Are Crying. Both projects I'm planning on continuing to develop.

I was the designer for SAIC's Open Studio Night. Here's my poster I made:

USA Artists commissioned me to make a video talking about my world building approach for The Blindfold!

On the side, I'm starting a long-term documentary project, tracking imperial/colonial histories in Asia alongside the development of their local animation industries. This includes the history of US animation industry production outsourcing in Asia. I would be addressing the politics and labor realities of the “service studios” that the US, Canada and Japan utilize for the bulk of their animation production. I'm thinking about how the development of animation on film corresponds with major historical events in Asia, and how prominent/developed the US and Japanese animation industries are, while most Asian countries' outputs have gone underexposed and underdeveloped, specifically countries that were brutalized by the US and Japan. 

In my Installation class, for my final I did my performance piece and installation "The Brittle Brine of the Ocean and The Fish Are Crying". I read a poem about when I was a sad baby and have a bunch of props that I bring out. I'm going to keep developing it with Tirtza next semester.

In my Buzzfeeds class, my final was a work in progress presentation talking about the Metal Spikes story I've been following. I also gave another presentation about Asian animation sweatshop labor.

In my Chaosmotic Systems class, for my final I led my class in a chaotic system where we wordlessly created an animation as a group in under 10 minutes.

In my Handmade Cinema class, I did paint on acrylic film. It didn't come out so good, but I made it into a gif:

It was my second year lead programming for Slamdance Film Festival's animation block. I'm super happy with the program. Go check it out if you're in LA!

I made this random short, Analyzing That, because I'm trying to have fun making animation again. I'll try and make more of these types of things.

RIght now, I'm working on grant applications for The Cone Layer and my documentary work, as well as teaching job applications.

Also, I just updated my about section of my website to make it made out of a bunch of cute drawings. Go look....

Thanks everyone I have more on the way always..

Jonni