Maureen Catbagan
Intimacy is a closeness that occurs through moments of vulnerability and openness. Is it expressed through a candid conversation, a soft touch, or a passing glance?
In my work I set up scenarios that cultivate the construction of relationships and identities by exploring gestures of intimacy and desire. Specifically, I want to understand the complex, and sometimes conflicting, negotiations we make between the "fantasies" and the "realities" of each other.
Film is a medium of intimacy and desire in its ability to evoke emotional immediacy, psychological fluidity, possibility, and empathy. Through characters’ narratives, we merge our personal experiences with cultural notions of longing. My work uses the visual and verbal language of cinema (close-ups, point-of-view, etc.) to examine how we make connections between "what is seen" and "what is felt" as we grapple with the past, the stories in our minds, and how we live in the present.