Student turns work on baroque poet into video art

A Hispanic Studies PhD student had the opportunity to turn her doctoral work into video art.

Angie Reamer took her research about Mexican baroque writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and turned it into a video for Express Your Thesis, a UVic Ideafest event in March.

Reamer says she was introduced to the prolific writer and scholar during her undergraduate studies.

“I believe that her essays, poems and plays were some of the best ever produced,” Reamer says.

“Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz, one of her best-known works, attests to her defense of education for women.”

Reamer created a video about Sor Juana incorporating footage from a Viva Mexico Folklore Dancers’ Association performance at UVic. Reamer’s dissertation will focus on the status of Sor Juana as a feminist icon in the 21st-century.

Reamer said the process of making the video was revealing.

“I found out a lot about myself and how I approach and internalize things,” she said.

“The video enhanced my research because I produced my own creative interpretation of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.”