Asaad — a letter about why I make things
Taken by a friend who kept telling me to stop moving.
Things that have actually shaped how I work, in no order:
- A cheap film camera I bought at 19 that leaked light on every roll. I spent a year trying to fix it and then a year using the leak on purpose.
- My dog, who taught me that being outside at 6am is not a discipline, it's just what happens when someone won't let you sleep.
- A song I finished in one sitting and have never been able to repeat.
- Two years of night trains. Most of what I know about framing I learned through a dirty window at 90km/h.
- Every shelf I've built badly, and then rebuilt.
People ask what I do and I still hesitate. The honest answer is that I get curious about something, follow it far past the point where it's useful, and usually end up with a film or a photograph or a piece of furniture at the end. Sometimes with nothing. That part's fine too.
I'm bad at finishing. I'm good at starting, and I've stopped apologising for the ratio.
If any of this sounds like your kind of thing, write to me. I answer slowly but I do answer.
— Asaad
asaadfilms@gmail.com