COLORSxSTUDIOS

You began fencing at age 8. What attracted you to the sport?

One day I was playing with a toy lightsaber at a park in Atlanta. Someone saw me and told my parents that they should put me into fencing classes. I did lessons for a while before we moved to New York. When we got there, the temporary apartment we lived in was directly across the street from a fencing club. It was kind of like fate.

You rose to success quite quickly after that. You entered your first competition at 11, won your first Senior National Championship at 17, and went to the Olympics the following year. What was it like to be so successful at such a young age?

In those early years, when other kids were going to summer camp, I would stay home to train. When I realized I had a knack for it I tripled downed on training. That’s why I picked it up so quickly. I was very lucky to have brilliant mentors and to be surrounded by other people at the fencing club who were incredibly passionate about the sport.

You’ve used your position as an athlete to raise awareness about various socio-political issues. At the 2019 Lima Pan American Games games, for example, you took a knee on the podium. Can you tell us about your journey as social justice advocate?

For people who aren’t fully informed on this topic, or don’t know where to start learning about gun violence, what would you recommend?

Everytown for Gun Safety is the largest anti-gun violence organization in the world. They have meet ups and protests all over the U.S. Moms Demand Action is another powerful and brilliant organization.

Outside of fencing you’re a visual artist working mostly with film. What interested you in this medium? 

As a fencer a camera was never far from my reach: I was always fascinated by film. My experiences in sport informed my first ever project. As a result, a company called ‘Reigning Champ’ reached out to me and asked me to direct a commercial piece for them called ‘The Last Traveling Swordsman’. Since then the opportunities have kept rolling in.

You recently worked with Ysaora Thibus, who is also your partner, on the short film ‘AN ATHLETE IS AN ISLAND’. It was made in partnership with Lacoste and you worked as both the writer and the director. 

I know Ysa better than I know anyone else on Earth. On top of that, we share a sport, so working on this specific project was very intimate. To have her trust me to tell her story on film was a huge deal.

‘Pipsqueak’ is an evocative peek into Pip Millett’s personal life. It follows Pip through personal environments such as her mothers home, her bedroom, in her shower. Why was it important to the vision to show Pip in vulnerable spaces of comfort?

Those vulnerable spaces are a part of who she is. Those are her spaces; that’s her town and her world. I believe it’s a showcase of vulnerability when you invite people into those spaces. It shows who you really are.

If you know Pip, and compare her private self to the girl she is when she’s on stage singing, you know the audience is just getting a portion of her; a boiled down, compressed version. When she’s not performing she’s quiet, her laugh is gentle, and the way she conducts herself is very soft. I was very interested in that contrast, her on stage versus how I knew her.

Having Pip feel comfortable enough to have me stay in her town built the foundation of trust we needed to create this project together. It was so interesting to be there with her, and to see her in spaces I’d never imagined her in. I began working by photographing the areas I thought we could shoot in and that would amplify the theme. From there, we conducted hours and hours of interviews before going over them to pinpoint aspects of her story that corresponded with those intimate spaces. It was very much a collaboration, one that wouldn’t have been possible without Pip’s trust and control of the narrative.