To trust our intuition: DEB ACHAK

Deb Achak NY 1968, fotografe en filmmaakster, heeft iets met water. Maar ook met andere elementen: haar kinderen bijvoorbeeld, haar man, de dagelijkse dingen.
Is ‘beweging’ misschien een beter begrip?
Daarom maakt ze ook film. Vaak met diezelfde elementen. Ze ontwierp een serie mini-movies die net 15 seconden per stuk duren. ‘Mini-monday-movie’, ‘mini-october-movie’, enz. Iets langere filmische expressie in ‘spring memories’ of een vakantie in Tucson Arizona 2015.

Op het eerste gezicht denk je aan huis-en keukenwerk, maar de aandachtige kijker merkt dat net door de montage en het gebruik van muziek en geluiden zij een intuïtie ontwikkelde voor een bijna meditatief beeldgebruik, hoe flitsend ook.
Net door de aandacht voor de inhoud van de spreekwoordelijke seconde maakt ze de weemoed van het voorbijgaan wakker, blijft het na-beeld lang nagloeien, verbindt het zich met onze eigen kleine levens van alledag.

Raised in New Hampshire, Deb Achak holds a master’s degree in social work and is a self-trained photographer and filmmaker. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and sons in a grand old home that was once a bed and breakfast. Deb’s fine art photography explores natural elements of water and grasses – earth elements with clean, simple compositions meant to calm and soothe. Her children are also a growing subject of her fine art work. Her photographs have been exhibited at the Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR; Sante Fe Photographic Workshops, Sante Fe, NM; the SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC: and Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT.

Through her photography Deb Achak explores her fascination with water and the ways in which we connect with it. She examines the texture, color, and poetry of the ocean, as well as the commonalities across cultures in the way we gather, find joy, relaxation, and contemplation at the beach.

‘My mother’s last words to my siblings and I before she died were “trust your gut instincts”. It’s struck me over the years how profound and revolutionary that one simple phrase is. It has become my mantra – my north star. When we still our mind, free it of conscious thought, intuition can be heard and felt, and becomes the perfect guide.

Some years ago, I started to notice that when I am in a deep flow with my art, it becomes a meditation and I am able to hear my inner voice with complete clarity. In this series I use water, color, movement and the human form to express the meditative quality I feel when I am in synch with the flow of creating. I seek to capture that single moment where my camera, my intuition, and the natural world are perfectly aligned, and to give gratitude to my mother for bestowing such a powerful parting gift.’

https://vimeo.com/199740343 the weekend

‘I have been so delighted to discover what a meditative process making films is for me. When I am in the studio editing, I lose track of time and every possible distraction falls away. I can stay in that space for many hours at a time and I love it. It is also become a gratitude practice for me.

There is something about making these films that clears away all the tough parts of motherhood (the bickering, the grocery shopping, the long hours!) and extracts just the beautiful bits. I fall head over heals in love with my family and my life every time I make a film. For that reason alone, I would like to make them for as long as possible.’

https://vimeo.com/135636646 spring memories

‘When we still our mind, free it of conscious thought, intuition can be heard and felt. This is the seat of my creativity. It has always struck me as ironic that I utilize a highly technical piece of equipment to express my intuition, but when I swim with my camera the act of shooting and the resulting images take on a meditative quality. The power and movement of water and the way the human form interacts with it are themes that repeat themselves again and again in my work. I seek to capture that single moment where my intuition, my camera, and the natural world are perfectly aligned. I hope the viewer will experience a sense of joy and awe at the resulting images.’