Only Dark from the Outside (2023) is a short experimental film based on Aphorisms on Futurisms, a poem by Mina Loy, first published in Camera Work (photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s magazine) in January of 1914.
Mina Loy (1882-1966), was a true cosmopolitan, a radical painter and polyglot poet known for her frank embrace of female sexuality and feminist politics. She joined the futurist movement in 1913, but she quickly encountered conflict regarding the movement’s fascist and misogynistic tendencies.
She has been associated with most of the avant-garde literary and artistic movements of the early 20th century: dadaism, surrealism, futurism, feminism, and modernism.
The film stems from a year-long creative interpretation, re-signification, and visual translation of the poem, conducted collaboratively by artist Kris Casey and filmmakers Eugenio Pizzorno and Eleonora Privitera. It was entirely shot on Super 8 film in New York City, in just 2 days.