woo presents: Forward with Chloe Smith, featuring much dark nostalgia

"I view most of the world through the lens of food. Creating connections in my brain between otherwise fairly disparate things."

Forward is director producer Benny Gattegno's foray into creating art and profiling different creatives. And his first short is with Chloe Smith, an artist based in deep dark rural New South Wales, where she lives out her days in a '70s style cabin, watching VHS tapes and altogether eschewing modern life.

Is she doing this out of some eerie necessity to get away from prying eyes? The haunting White Lotus inspired soundtrack and slasher-movie type shots might suggest so. There's a strange, uncanny surrealism; a couple of TVs perched in the woods, a banana balancing on top of one, a sandwich dipped in a pot of water to boil.

But it could also be that Chloe just wants to get away from it all to better create her art - a series of soft foods meticulously crafted from a range of textiles. It's in the unknowing that Benny wants the viewer to engage.

"I think art has the capacity to make life more bearable." Smith explains "It's about the sensual nature of textiles and the unexpected ways they can make you feel. It brings light into otherwise dark places, the moment of shifting and unsteadiness. The darkness in nostalgia."

In what Benny refers to as "an exploration of perception, creativity, and the transformative power of art" this short transcends traditional storytelling.

If you want to delve into the forest and take a look around Chloe's cabin, as well as the surreal and mildly spooky art she creates, just watch the link above!