Wendy Wolfe Fine

Artist Statement
Whether visually documenting unique experiences or exploring Jewish heritage, storytelling has always been a part of my life. Simply asking questions does not entirely abate my curiosity, and my interest is especially piqued when the answers are elusive or non-existent.

The digital assembly of found and created footage, video interviews, photographs, documents, titles, intertitles, music, sounds and memorabilia enables me to create narrative visualizations. Tensions rise in the depictions of opposing binaries like tradition and modernity, restriction and freedom, and public and private lives. My characters develop trust in me and open up as I become close to them and immerse myself in their culture. Clothing, textiles, food, and rituals play a part in these depictions, and the blending of these elements stimulates the viewers’ senses. Themes emerge around issues of memory, displacement, identity, and the role of women in perpetuating culture and tradition.

My work has evolved to include a more complex visualization of the cultural, the historic and the personal. Defying convention and breaking out of mainstream standards for depiction can yield richly layered documentary films that evoke meaning beyond the literal.