Jo Truong
Jo Truong
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

Ah, okay, so this is where I begin…

At the start, I was sure that this, whatever it is that I’m doing, is infinite. This work of mine will define me, my encyclopedia, crafted with intent.

With age, one will begin to realize that nothing is infinite, all beautiful things are finite. As a filmmaker, there are only so many stories to tell, so many clients to work with, and so many like-minded individuals to collaborate with — in this regard, I’ve been fortunate with a wealthy sum.

So here I am at a Juan Valdez coffee shop in the upscale district of Bogotá, Colombia, some 4500 km from home. The smell of coffee is thick on my upper lip, so thick that you might smell the scent of over-privilegedness from across the table. Julien and I are currently traveling for work, commissioned to travel to three continents, to capture and tell diverse stories of exemplary people who are working to advance the rights of the unrecognized, under privileged, persecuted, and misunderstood. So sitting here in this coffee shop, taking a moment to plan, to frustrate with myself the meaning of my work and the work that is awaiting me… I find myself frustrated, and so I begin.

As commercial artists, our goals must be to take the collective human experience and make it newly valuable — take whats fundamentally important to us, all of us — our aspiration for belonging, security, unity, love — these core ingredients of any culture and of any human, texture all this with a warm light, a sunny afternoon, jovial atmosphere, and even a memory of childhood. Take these individually cherished experiences, show that they too are cherished by another of a different race, whom eat different food, speak a different language, but who may currently be of a different circumstance. Capture and show that these valued human experiences are of others and of all humans, in contrast, let the depravity of these experiences inform us to the plight of others.

For is this not the value of the imaginative arts? To take what we already know and not necessarily come up with some new discovery, but to re-contextualize that knowledge or experience and create meaning. As creatives for hire, our goals must be to take what is rich in culture and make it newly valuable.

…so we arrived in Bogotá after an eight hour sleep. That afternoon, we hurried to the old quarter to lift ourselves — the women of Colombia are truly beautiful… anyhow, there I was in La Candelaria, looking to the cobbled streets, finding myself washed in a deluge of memory…remembering how beautiful this all is and they all are, but especially the women, honest.

Jo Truong

Written by

Jo Truong

Co-founder of Cloud in the Sky Studios, Creative Director, Writer & Cinematographer — @jojohoco