Megan Orr

Business Name: orrmedia
Type of Work: Multi-Media Art & Documentary Films

Contact Information

Email: orrmedia@gmail.com

Website: vimeo.com/channels/meganorr

Biography

Inspired by stories of the unsung heroes among us, astronomy, nature, urban life and the unseen, I produce art that seeks to embrace and make visible womanhood, femininity, sociology, energy, and collective consciousness in relationship to their opposites, as everything is dual. As a multimedia artist and documentary filmmaker with ten years of experience, I have used my film and digital media skills for a variety of purposes, including feature documentaries, advertising, advocacy and news. Having independently produced many international human rights advocacy films for campaigns on child labor in Nepal, tribal mediation in India, and early marriage and female circumcision in Kenya, my journey as an artist has taught me that I aspire to produce art/media that serve a dual purpose: tell compelling stories and empower the storyteller.

My ability to integrate digital storytelling with social activism has landed me in many places, from the rural mud huts of Maasai tribes in East Africa to the School of Visual Arts in New York. In May of 2016 I earned my Master of Fine Arts in Social Documentary Filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan where I produced my first feature and character driven documentary, Pee Wee Lovell based in Winston-Salem. My most notable professional experience is my advocacy work for CNN Hero, Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, the Founder and Executive Director of the Enkakenya Center for Excellence (KCE) – http://bit.ly/1zkyW3y. KCE is an award winning all girls’ primary boarding school in southwest, Kenya. Its mission is to eradicate early marriage and female circumcision by promoting girl’s education. For seven months, I worked as a Peace Fellow for KCE where I collaborated with Dr. Ntaiya to document the mission of her school.

Upon my return, I felt inspired to further explore themes of personal identity, sexuality, and womanhood within my paintings and films. In my work I seek to exemplify confidence and ownership over voice, sexuality, and relationship to life. Through abstract drawings of “disfigured” women I try to instigate curiosity about oneself in relationship to humanity, beauty, culture and history. Often when I produce a film, everyday reality is the focus but when I draw and paint I notice that I freely and readily express myself via abstract expressionism. I love to experiment with texture and color, and I paint on just about any surface. Sometimes I use collage, charcoal, ink, acrylic, pastel and oil paint all in one piece. I hope to eventually animate my work thus bridging the two storytelling methods; incorporating my drawings into my films.