Ellen Bruno2001

Bruno shapes poetic meditations on political struggles with the aim of evoking felt response—and action. Having served as an international relief worker in Southeast Asia during the past twenty years, she understands what it means to be a witness as both an activist and an artist.
 
Whether focusing on the experiences of incarcerated Tibetan Buddhist nuns, on young prostitutes along the Thai-Burmese border, or on a Cambodia destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, Bruno draws upon experimental and documentary techniques, (non-linear narrative, slow motion, repetition of key images, interviews and re-enactments), in the service of searing, non-literal testimony.
 
"My work documents the complex ways that human beings struggle to affirm their dignity and integrity when political and historical circumstances conspire to negate them. My goal is not only to make art, but to use art to harness the power of the senses for the well-being of people, and to bring change."