The Video by Kira Kenley

Posted on March 22, 2013 by karen

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8 Kira Kenley shares her creative dilemmas and decisions every Friday over the coming months. You can read her earlier posts here

It is time to make a video. My oh my! Time to see KK in 3D. Yikes! I remember my great struggle to accept her in 2D and I am terrified. This music making is not for the faint-hearted! But I will do this as I have committed to represent the songs that come to keep me company while I play with my instruments, the songs now calling for a face to match the voice I have given them.

As well as terror, there is excitement. This is a new creative medium. The visual idea comes quickly and then the perfect person manifests herself. Virginie Anne Hebert (Genie) will be to the video what Lior has been to the album. I share my idea, Genie loves it and we begin plotting to bring it to life.

The video is finished and the file arrives in my inbox. Within seconds I burst onto the screen. Nothing could have prepared me for what happens next. There is a gasp of horror as I see myself in digital form. I cannot focus on the full picture but instead I am seeing all the body parts I have struggled over the years to accept. Now it feels like a new war is waging.

 

My meltdown in full swing, I am just about to seek out my flat mate, Stella, to challenge her as to why she has not before this time told me how I look to the world and encouraged me to stay indoors, when I receive a message. Genie wants to know what I think. I take a deep breath and pick up the phone.

An hour later, I’m with Genie still in my fragile state. She reassures me that my reaction is not uncommon. It calms me and I remember I had a similar feeling when I first heard my recorded voice, as did I when I was becoming acquainted with the photographic evidence of my existence. And yet these days I can bear witness to such things objectively. I prepare myself for a second viewing.

Genie leaves me alone and as I sit and watch over and over again, I begin to see Kira as she is. I watch the whole creature. This is all of me. Put into perspective the offending body parts become less offensive. Eventually, I can see myself as a ‘part’ of the video just like my voice is a part of the song. It is about the art and I am the tool. Life is the dancer and I am simply her dance. It helps!