Henry & June, 1990. A Look Back.

Anyone who knows me well knows I love independent cinema of the early 90s. Between 1990-1994, so many brilliant avant-garde films were produced. The phenomenal Polish filmmaker, Krzysztof Kieslowski reached his zenith with his Three Colors trilogy, 'Blue, White, and Red,' starring Julie Delpy, Juliette Binoche and the remarkable Irene Jacob. The films that came out during this period introduced me to two of the writers whose lives inspired me, based on the sheer creative freedom they embraced in pursuit of their lives as artists, Anaïs Nin and Marguerite Duras. Duras', exquisite novella, "The Lover," originally published in France as a memoir, was later internationally published as "fiction," no doubt based on its sensationalist content, the centerpiece of which was the 15-year-old French Duras' love affair with the 30-year-old Chinese scion of a wealthy family. I was inspired by Duras and found the poetic honesty of Nin's diaries riveting. I initially came to know Nin when I first saw her depicted in the film, 'Henry and June,' about the literary and sexual throuplehood that took place in 1931 between Henry Miller, his wife, June and a highly libertine Anaïs Nin who was down for an affair with each.

I was a teenager then, and the film made me blush. Yet as culturally naive as I was, I still found the performance of Fred Ward, who played Henry Miller, over-the-top in the best sense, gauche in the worst. I cast an equally critical eye over the then 20-year-old Uma Thurman who despite her otherworldly beauty and hefty doses of sensuality, was even in my 17-year-old mind, far too young, not confident enough, nor seasoned enough to have played the been-there-done-that, June. But, I'll never forget the rainy night I walked out of the theater after the film. As I made my way home that evening, I thought about art and life and how I wanted to figure out how to live in a way that both escaped and defied convention. These images from the film 'Henry and June,' were shot on my ipad direct from the film and then re-crafted as NFTS. I am driven by nostalgia. I can not help but create art for remembrance.