NYE 2018 @ The Huntington Gardens

Photographed at the Huntington Botanical Gardens on New Years Eve 2018 between 3PM and 5PM.

Pete Helvey photographed by Farida Amar

Allen Sovory II photographed by Farida Amar

Farida Amar photographed by Jeremy Quant

Farida Amar photographed by Jeremy Quant

Jeremy Quant photographed by Farida Amar

Pete Helvey photographed by Farida Amar

Pete Helvey photographed by Farida Amar

Jeremy Quant & Allen Sovory II photographed by Farida Amar

Farida Amar photographed by Pete Helvey

Farida Amar photographed by Pete Helvey

Jeremy Quant photographed by Farida Amar

Jeremy Quant photographed by Farida Amar

Allen Sovory II photographed by Farida Amar

Allen Sovory II photographed by Farida Amar

Jeremy Quant photographed by Farida Amar

Jeremy Quant photographed by Farida Amar

Jeremy Quant, Pete Helvey and Allen Sovory II photographed by Farida Amar



BREAK Music Video for Hil Jaeger

“I would never hurt you,” is what we say in the wave of love when our nerve endings are braided together, when our motion is synchronous, when our bodies are inseparable… And then the wave breaks. 

LOS ANGELES, CA — Electronic producer, vocalist, composer and engineer Hil Jaeger, in collaboration with independent audio/visual art collective Unraveled Artists, brings to you an unconventional music video for her newest single Break. Conceived by Creative Director Farida Amar, filmed by Cinematographer Viktoria Raykova, and edited by Jaeger herself; this visual experiment documents tension and release in subtle nonverbal communication between Jaeger and performance artist Kira Preston as they explore the phenomenon and intimately familiar emotional entanglement of heartbreak.

Break opens in medias res within a relationship narrative, intentionally positioning the viewer as voyeur into an improvisational process of lovers probing the seemingly infinite facets of their connection with subtle choreography. Mirrors paired with congruent flesh tones and slippery, synchronous motion creates sensations of endless recursion; the camera focuses and blurs. The push and pull dynamic of infatuated lovers devolves and a quiet violence ensues. Jaeger’s emotive tenor emphasizes this as the scenes of her performance become increasingly wrought and writhing while the scenes between the two lovers remain coolly lit and methodically articulated. This breakdown will seem familiar to anyone who has ever felt love slip between their fingers. The one we love stays the same, but suddenly we start to see them differently. We push and find there is no longer a response. The magnitude we once carried effortlessly now becomes an unbearable weight.

Break began in an apartment in Brooklyn with female musician Jaeger and her aerialist love/r, where they recorded their friend playing extended technique harp. Samples of that recording became the ghost that haunts the corridors of this song. With a bleeding heart, Hil carried Break back to Oakland where she built and mastered the song in her home studio beat by beat. The visualization of this journey was filmed at Everybody Los Angeles, a queer friendly health and wellness facility, by four queer identifying women who fearlessly confront love in its various formats. Break is now being brought to you with love, perhaps the most powerful challenge we can overcome.

SONG : B R E A K / ALBUM : CMPRSSN / MUSIC PRODUCTIONRECORDINGMIXINGPERFORMANCE & VIDEO EDITING : Hil Jaeger / BODY PERFORMANCE : Kira Preston / CREATIVE DIRECTIONPRODUCTION & STILL IMAGES : Farida Amar / CAMERA OPERATIONCINEMATOGRAPHY : Viktoria Raykova / LOCATION : Everybody, Los Angeles



Galaxies Are Growing Inside Me

Galaxies Are Growing Inside Me was a summoning of life and the inevitable colliding of that which lives. It was attraction and repulsion, where creatures of the night met the light of day. Where sound was sent into concrete high rises. Wake up little crickets, and chirp towards the sun. Close your eyes human, and rest in the shade. Let yourself climb towards the sky, flip upside-down and use your fingers to trace the outline of your own shadow on the ground below.

MUSICIANS : EntertainmentHip to DeathNikki McKnight, Chris Gravely, Scott Box and Joshua LonerPERFORMANCE ARTISTS : Sara Gregory of MakeShift Circus and Marilyn Chen of Liquid Sky / INSTALLATION DESIGN : Farida Amar / PRODUCTION : Farida Amar

Photo Credit : Farida Amar

This show was a part of Unraveled Tours 2016.


Sleep Is Not for Those Who Dream

About the Wayfinding Installation built by Raphael Arar : This participatory installation includes a set of four electromechanical sculptures that operate in subsequent harmony and discord based on audience, performer and/or environmental impulses. Each sculpture, positioned at a Cardinal Direction, operates independently by way of a motor that strikes tensed bungee cables containing a glass orb with a glass marble. In effect, both movement and sound ensue, the latter continuously amplified by digital effects. Software manipulates and morphs the sequence at which the sculptures fire, inviting both the environment along with the participant to meddle with a sense of direction amidst time.

MUSICIANS : Brandon Tory, Model Soul and The Heavns / PERFORMANCE ARTIST : Camille Grenier / INSTALLATION DESIGN : Raphael Arar and Will Michaelsen / PRODUCTION : Farida Amar / DOCUMENTATION : Viktoria Raykova

Photo Credit : Viktoria Raykova

This show was a part of Unraveled Tours 2016.


Eventually, Everything Connects

Eventually, Everything Connects 

MUSICIANS : Canada, Airacuda and Vishnu Basement / PERFORMANCE ARTISTS : Marina Kec, Caitlin Dagle and Nicole Battestilli / MUSIC CURATING : Truong TaINSTALLATION DESIGN : Farida Amar / PRODUCTION : Farida Amar

Photo Credit : Farida Amar 

This show was a part of Unraveled Tours 2016.


Crashing Into Walls We’ve Built

About the Wayfinding Installation built by Raphael Arar : This participatory installation includes a set of four electromechanical sculptures that operate in subsequent harmony and discord based on audience, performer and/or environmental impulses. Each sculpture, positioned at a Cardinal Direction, operates independently by way of a motor that strikes tensed bungee cables containing a glass orb with a glass marble. In effect, both movement and sound ensue, the latter continuously amplified by digital effects. Software manipulates and morphs the sequence at which the sculptures fire, inviting both the environment along with the participant to meddle with a sense of direction amidst time.

MUSICIANS : Hoofwerk, Hydroplane, Wake and Whitney Lyman / PERFORMANCE ARTIST : Camille Grenier / INSTALLATION DESIGN : Raphael Arar and Will Michaelsen / PRODUCTION : Farida Amar


Old Ways Won’t Open New Doors

About the Wayfinding Installation built by Raphael Arar : This participatory installation includes a set of four electromechanical sculptures that operate in subsequent harmony and discord based on audience, performer and/or environmental impulses. Each sculpture, positioned at a Cardinal Direction, operates independently by way of a motor that strikes tensed bungee cables containing a glass orb with a glass marble. In effect, both movement and sound ensue, the latter continuously amplified by digital effects. Software manipulates and morphs the sequence at which the sculptures fire, inviting both the environment along with the participant to meddle with a sense of direction amidst time.

MUSICIANS : The Shape, Wicked ManHoofwerk and Whitney Lyman / PERFORMANCE ARTIST : Camille Grenier / INSTALLATION DESIGN : Raphael Arar and Will Michaelsen / PRODUCTION : Farida Amar

Photo Credit : Viktoria Raykova 

This show was a part of Unraveled Tours 2016.