The artist becomes—and breaks free from—her art in the eerie and enchanting new video from visual creator Steph Butchko’s music project
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If my calculations based on memories from freshman year French, my early-quarantine 4-day Rosetta Stone phase and, um, Google Translate are correct, voir means “to see.”
While that verb seems a bit counter-intuitive for the name of a music project, it feels perfectly fitting when you learn that Voir is the moniker of Steph Butchko, a visual artist—
Which also explains why the music video for her new song is so damn stunning.
In reference to the track itself, the artist says: “‘Anxious Hands’ is about that overwhelming sense of longing in a crowded room. The moment you feel your value determined by hundreds of aloof glances. Each one guarding their own identity.”
As for the video, well… if a picture is worth 1,000 words, that’s gotta be worth at least, like, a million. So with that, I’ll stop typing and let the art do the talking.
This is the PREMIERE of “Anxious Hands”—the brand-new song + gorgeous video from Voir!
Bands do BK’s Off The Record series is based on the fact that so many of the local artists we love have talent that transcends medium—that can’t be confined to one outlet or a single pursuit—and, on top of that, the fact that these different means of expression often cross over, influencing, infiltrating and serving as inspiration for one another.
That idea is personified perfectly by Voir and encapsulated particularly well in this video, which combines and showcases Steph’s skills in the sonic, visual and even acting arenas. But more than a simple display of talent(s), it digs into the very idea (and struggle) of being a creative, exploring the concept of identity and the intimate relationship between an individual and their work by featuring the artist, the artist’s art and the artist as art—illustrating blurred lines, mixed emotions and perhaps a struggle to escape.
Or, put more eloquently:
“The video follows the peculiar relationship between an artist and their art object,” Steph told me over email. “The insecure creator holds her work back, confining it to the corners of a dark studio. Eventually the artist is broken down by her own insecurity and the spirit of her work is able to break free. Shrouded in drafts, paint, and canvas the art object trudges confidently forward.”
There we go.
Check out Voir’s new song + video for yourself now—and when it comes to this release (and future ones!), be sure to regardez, écoutez, partagez…
Or, um, something like that.
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Follow the artist at @voirhaus, grab her music on Bandcamp + add it to your Spotify playlists and find all things Voir at stephbutchko.com.
Video credits: performed and designed by: Steph Butchko; directed by: Waley Wang; cinematography by: Amaal Mustafa; produced by: Zoey Pressey
Feature image provided by the artist.