Lola is a recurring autobiographical character I use in my work. She started out as a buffer between myself and more personal subject matter to give me more distance than a true first-person story can allow for. Lately though, I have been involving Lola in a more eclectic range of videos and exploring different themes and narrative styles from what she initially appeared in. The Lola videos are not direct sequels to each other and can be watched in any order, although some videos were created in conversation with each other or explore similar themes/reference each other.
The current roster of Lola videos is:
The One I Come Home To (2022): 2min (complete, online)
Hymn (2023): 1min 30sec (complete, online)
[RE]:Cover (2024): 2min (complete, not publicly available)
Menswear (2024): 5min (complete, not publicly available)
[RE]:State (2025): 11min 30sec (complete, not publicly available)
[RE]:Pulse (2025): 37sec (in progress)
Special:Random (2025): 1min 9sec (in progress)
Ohio Doesn't Need to Be the Guy Who Tells Me Hell Is Real (2025): 1min (in progress)
Ohio Doesn't Need to Be the Guy Who Tells Me Hell Is Real (2025) in progress: A collection of moments and observations that come from coming and going in the “flyover” states, a meditation on transitory landscapes in a time of national and personal uncertainty. An experiment with using Lola in a more narrative piece.
Special:Random (2025) in progress: Recently I learned that if you type “Special:Random” into Wikipedia's search bar, it sends you to a random article. I am unsure of what the practical application of this is, but for my application of this was to type in “Special:Random” many times and pulled interesting phrases from the articles Wikipedia sent me to, and I assembled a piece of flash prose. I love Wikipedia’s house style because it’s this weird mix of straightforward accessible nonfiction, at times extreme specificity, and the way very online people write. The purpose of this piece is to play with the vast content that lives buried on the internet and highlight a process of extractive work, niche digital documentation, and communal editing.
[RE]:Pulse (2025) in progress: A check-in with Lola after not using her for a while. Experimenting with cut out animation and music production, as well as using techniques familiar to her like wordplay and rotoscoping.
[RE]:State (2025): One-take "Get-Ready-with-Me" (or "GRWM" for my fellow 2010s YouTube/Tumblr girlies) video recorded during the 2nd Trump inauguration. Closest thing to a behind-the-scenes Lola video (at present, at least). A spiritual extension of [RE]:Cover. Piece is not publicly available at the time.
Menswear (2024): Lola starts her day by getting dressed where extreme masculine and extreme feminine meet. Sister video of [RE]:Cover. Piece is not publicly available at the time.
[RE]:Cover (2024): An exploration of what it means to recover from sexual violence in the most literal sense: changing clothes. Sister video of Menswear. Piece is not publicly available at the time.
Hymn (2023): This video explores how archaic technology intersects with how I have viewed my body and relationships with men throughout my life. Through dissecting the ideology of my upbringing and fusing my relationship with my body to my relationship with technology, specifically the technology from when I was growing up. The music track is entirely comprised of samples from over 50 songs, mostly recognizable rock and pop music from the 70’s through the early 00’s and noises from Space Cadet Pinball and tech that died out during my childhood (dial-up, etc.).
***this video contains flashing imagery as well as themes of body image issues and allusions to purity culture, please proceed with care***
The One I Come Home To (2022): How come when it's an apartment, it's "your next chapter", but when it's a boyfriend, it's "giving a piece of your heart away"? This video was made before Lola's conception; I consider it "proto-Lola".
***this video contains themes of purity culture, please proceed with care***