Cindy's profile
Cindy Konits' work explores the complexities of family history, memory, and identity in the face of evolving technologies. She was Assistant Professor of Art at Stevenson University, Maryland teaching darkroom photography, digital photography and Video Art for 15 years. The discovery of 8mm family film c.1940 and secrets revealed in individual stillframes has inspired significant projects in recent years. BITS OF US is a research effort for realtime online collaborative video editing tools to create a crowdsourced family film. The DIGITAL INTIMACY installation reveals visitors' cybersecurity vulnerabilities in a setting suggestive of the security of family memories. Thirty-five still frames from the 8mm family film have been enlarged over 9,000% with digital painting from the original .13" x .17" to create 15"x21" hybrids of 8mm film stills/digital paintings exposing details imperceptible at the normal rate of film playback. Another MEMOIRE INVOLUNTAIRE print series is created with 20 ft. projections of digitally painted film stills in the setting of antique furnishings and the artist sitting in front of an RCA Victor TV (1950) as if she was viewing the television alongside living counterparts of the ghosts recognized in the original family film. Two selections from the MEMOIRE INVOLUNTAIRE series were exhibited at Aqua Art Miami/Art Basel Week December 2018. The artist book MEMOIRE INVOLUNTAIRE The Essence of the Past Limited Edition Set of 20, will be available in Spring 2019. Also exploring family memories, Cindy produced and directed the documentary short “The Way I See It” about her mother’s cousin, Dr. Henry Abrams who was Albert Einstein’s ophthalmalogist and friend. "The Way I See It" screened at 19 times worldwide including Anthology Film Archives, NYC, The Tribeca Underground Film Festival, NYC, HollyShorts Short Film Festival, Hollywood California, Eberswalde Film Festival, Eberswalde Germany, Swansea Bay Film Festival, Swansea UK, Short Film Festival of India, Chennai India, and Expresion en Corto, San Miquel de Allende, Mexico. The morning after Einstein’s death on April 18, 1955, Dr. Abrams removed the eyes from Einstein’s corpse. “The Way I See It” is an exploration of the legacy of this decision by the adult haunted since learning of it as a child. “The Veil of Intent” is a documentary short about censorship in Baltimore art institutions, The Contemporary Museum, The Walters Art Gallery, and Maryland Institute College of Art. CD-ROM “The I for Pleasure” was curated for “Going for Baroque” at The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore. Cindy earned her MFA in Photographic and Electronic Media from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a graduate fellowship. Her Urban Planning MA is from the University of Maryland and BA in Psychology and Education from the University of Rochester. Cindy is a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, a competitive swimmer retaining 4 Top Ten national relay team records, and Cindy’s standard poodle ‘Moose’ is a Master Dog Agility Champion, a title he earned in 2017 with Cindy, his agility running, training, and handling partner.
