Biography:
I am a filmmaker and photographer currently studying at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, I studied photography at Santa Monica College where my work was placed in juried exhibitions back in 2017 and 2018. My photo series, The Godless Photograph, was exhibited in my last year in California. In 2020, my work was included in the "Don't Joke About That" exhibition which debuted online due to the pandemic.
While completing my studies and shooting, I have worked as a freelance photographer and videographer, music video director, darkroom technician, gallery assistant, and I currently work in the SAIC media centers as a shift lead.
In the past few years, my work has shifted from photography to filmmaking as a means to add layers to the narratives I found emerging from my still photos. My first short film, Hunger, premiered in an exhibition titled "What If We?" in February 2023. Since then, it has won best silent film program at the Pan Eros Film Festival (2023) as well as being nominated for best editing at the Cinema Soup Film Festival (2023) and best actor at the Europa Film Festival (2024). Hunger was also selected for the Chicago Underground Film Festival (2023), received an honorable mention from the Experimental Film Forum (2023), and participated in the exhibition "Maybe Fake's What I Like".
While completing my studies and shooting, I have worked as a freelance photographer and videographer, music video director, darkroom technician, gallery assistant, and I currently work in the SAIC media centers as a shift lead.
In the past few years, my work has shifted from photography to filmmaking as a means to add layers to the narratives I found emerging from my still photos. My first short film, Hunger, premiered in an exhibition titled "What If We?" in February 2023. Since then, it has won best silent film program at the Pan Eros Film Festival (2023) as well as being nominated for best editing at the Cinema Soup Film Festival (2023) and best actor at the Europa Film Festival (2024). Hunger was also selected for the Chicago Underground Film Festival (2023), received an honorable mention from the Experimental Film Forum (2023), and participated in the exhibition "Maybe Fake's What I Like".
My second short, Annihilation, premiered in a 16mm film screening at Chicago's DIY art space, No Nation, in March of 2024.
Artist Statement:
I utilize experimental concepts to explore dark psychological facets that coincide with romantic and sexual desires. Common themes that are discussed in my work are; romantic yearning, emotional torment, social isolation, and sexual frustration. I relay this through visually striking imagery that employs elements of melancholic homoeroticism and psychosexual surrealism. My work is deeply intimate, capturing the pained ecstasy of raw vulnerability. It is only through this vulnerability can we begin to examine the darkest corners of our individual psyches and collective desires.
You can contact me by emailing me at "chrisqnoon@gmail.com", or messaging me through my instagram, @meatsound.