Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandra Gallardo.
Sandra, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve always been fascinated with cameras and have always found a drive in videography and photography. In second grade I would go from recording my friends acting my script for my version of The Real World, to myself as a news anchor, to pressing pause rewind and record for special effects. This was a mix with pretending to be a teacher teaching a class of 20 students (who I would imitate each personality), to giving a tattoo to someone using a dry erase board and expo markers (asking they were getting the tattoo and then imitating their responses), to attempting to be a cashier and pricing everything in my room using a broken desktop keyboard for my register, to attempting to be a radio dj (with the classic cd/tape recorder in one combo) with special guests that I would take it upon myself to imitate. I feel like there has always been a projector going on in my head at all times. My mother passed two weeks into high school when I was 14 from Lymphoma and I lost the drive to really do anything and got deep into drugs and alcohol. When I was 18, I wrote a 50-page front and back book called Disturbed Image and made 50 copies for my closest friends, family, and crushes. I always felt it wasn’t enough to express the feeling in the things I wanted to explain or question. Into college, I picked up Humanities, Sociology, and Physiology just for fun because I was so fascinated with community building and levels of communication and expression.
My father gifted me my first video camera as an adult in 2013 right when I was going through a divorce of a seven years relationship and less than one year of marriage with my best friend as well as the end of my band The Orkids in which we started together. I had experienced the 13th-floor mental ward at Grady (with a sinus infection for 24 hours) from an attempt to drive off the opposite side of a ramp. When I got out, I was kissing the ground of the parking garage and holding my head out of the window even though it was freezing. I can honestly say getting that camera saved my life because that restless energy went to shooting and capturing everything the way that I saw it (a way to express myself without a combination of words or my physical effort). The details and attempting to capture the moments of concentration fed help to the deep holes I felt in my soul and heart. I took the camera everywhere and was intrigued by the way the lens could go in and out of focus and concentrate on certain parts of the frame. At the end of each month, I would compile my favorite shots and angles into visual journal entries and placed it with a song that really spoke to me that particular month. I compiled video after video and didn’t stop and have always gotten a high from editing and seeing final products. I got my hands on Final Cut Pro and started teaching myself as much as I could about it. Whenever I’d drag my roommates or friends to look at my work, I always heard that it seemed natural and part of my purpose, which I always felt but was reassured about. I liked how without the viewers permission, I could shoot something that would make them feel.
I started noticing musicians that really caught my eye and I’d notice they didn’t have any promotional videos so I’d offer to shoot them for free. It was always a win-win situation because the artists always had rights to their videos and I could use them as a reference to get more musicians willing to collaborate. Not to mention, the actual experience of shooting these amazing artists was extremely therapeutic. I found myself weening off my anxiety meds and replacing it with product/results.
I started shooting footage of me dancing and playing with effects for my own reference but would post and that led to me collaborating with dancers and choreographers. That taught me what ‘word of mouth meant’ and eventually started getting me paid gigs and more collaboration.
I started to get curious about certain subjects based on conversations that would come up whenever I was in a social environment. I actually joined Tinder and OkCupid on the search of people that were looking for deep conversation and collaboration. I began to collaborate with strangers and would record our conversations and debates, and that led to collaborating with them on projects. I was fortunate enough to work with Fitlanta Movements (now the November Project), Love is Art, Girls Rock Camp, Murmur, Paris on Ponce, Eyedrum, Lady of The Lake, Dance Truck, Naked Headless, Big Brutus, Obeah, Jeremy Brown, and Ageless Interactions. I started with The Wander Project leaving a lot of room for a variety of things to shoot and display. I created Pridensouth (concentrating on sexual identification/orientation and interviews to help others gain more knowledge about things not really talked about. My goal was to provide video services to people who couldn’t afford professionals, and I had the freedom to pick out who I got to work with depending on how good the ideas or music were. I would make commercials for businesses I worked at and always noticed things that I was drawn to help show the rest of the world.
My father recently passed from bladder and bone cancer, and I took my sister up on the offer to move to Albany, New York with her and her family to concentrate on reaching my goals with no distractions and family support. I am currently planting seeds and making it into the community here in Albany to spread some Atlanta culture. I’m excited to get more creatives out of their caves here. I plan on bringing back things I’ve learned from New York to Atlanta within the year and am constantly reminded about how much Atlanta has taught me. I just lost my uncle after he was taken off life support. It’s crazy that we ‘must be broken for a breakthrough’. When you’re world is spinning, create something.
That’s the best way I can personally summarize the roller coaster of my expression through footage and plan to never slow down. Remember to surround yourself with people who remind you of your purpose and always aim to help you grow and remind you of your potential.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I find purpose in conversation, exchange, and relating to others because we all have more in common than some of us think. I feel purpose in being a catalyst for people to feel and play with their perspectives on things as well as teach me to play with mine. The things with video is like with music if the cards are played right and from the heart, it’s felt without the listeners/viewers permission. It takes them to different parts of their internal world. I feel purpose in pulling things out of people that are ignored and to also display the moments where we are free when we express and the different way we can do that.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Surround yourself with people who motivate you or make you feel motivated just by being around them. If you are a creative like me that is depressed and hopeless when not creating, it is vital you surround yourself with positive people who are passionate about something. I always found it hard to be friends or have relationships with people who just work, sleep, eat, Netflix it or play video games. I try not to have regret about what things I didn’t accomplish on time or things I didn’t realize because that’s not productive in order to continue believing in myself. I’m constantly trying to label old habits and patterns that do not serve me anymore and replace them with attitudes and goals that will get me to where I was born to be. The mistakes I’ve made are examples to give when I am exchanging with someone I can relate to in a past sense. It’s those mistakes that remind us how far we have come or can go.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I am currently placing together a website to compile all of my favorite work and at the moment have an art page on @wanderatl and a Vimeo account The Wander Project.
Contact Info:
- Address: 7684 State Route 66
Averill Park, NY 12018 - Website: vimeo.com/thewanderproject
- Phone: 706.580.7537
- Email: eyewanderproductions@gmail.com
- Instagram: @wanderatl
Image Credit:
Personal photo taken by: Elizabeth Page Photography
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