Maitry Rao

Words occur to me at the most unexpected times, but I don't intervene with it. I document this gush of inner monologue sentences on my phone with autocorrect turned off, write continuously until I'm drained of it entirely and then refine these words, flooded with intangible feelings of bliss and turmoil. Ironically these two poems yearn for two feelings that are poles apart: Laugh & Breathe (2020) yearns for a moment of calm and Anywhere But Here (2021) yearns for a deep longing for hectic travelling.

In my first year, I created a Walking simulator Laugh & Breathe (2020). This is based on a monologue style poem where the player gets to create their own version of my poem. The purpose of this game is to provoke the player to indulge in the act of purposeless wandering, be it in the virtual or the real world.

My Graduation film Anywhere But Here (2021) is about wanting to go places and see new faces, but being prevented from doing so by the pandemic. It shows a reasonable desire to escape the loop of being confined in the same space over a duration of unreasonable amount of time. I unravel a bittersweet resolution in my self-reflexive filmmaking process as I dive in and out of my dreamscape.