Two decades ago I set out to capture the Soul of Humanity on film, so that we might see ourselves reflected in each other. So that we might remember we belong to each other, and act accordingly. So that we might wake up. Along this journey I’ve come to understand the profound nature of the revolutionary act of unconditional attention and how it might change the world. My mission is to share this far and wide. As a demonstrable experience in amongst people, and as an experience on film that will last for generations.
ABOUT NIC ASKEW – ARTIST, FILM MAKER – PIONEERING CINEMATOGRAPHY AND CONSCIOUSNESS
From expeditions in the Congo, Amazon and Sahara to a Managing Directorship in Business, my eclectic earlier life took an unexpected turn in 2005 when a lucid daydream to pick up a film camera and use it in a profound fashion consumed me with no doubt.
Since that day I’ve used this camera to capture an unyielding experience of human presence, taking film subjects far beyond the experience of the mind and deep into an inner, wiser and more consciously intelligent world.
Through a two decade exploration of human connection, authenticity and insight with the film camera, I discovered that there is a profoundly simple way that we are able to be together, which I refer to as Inner View. The sharing of this experience has transformed the relationship countless people have with themselves and those around them. Many have SAID as much.
Inner View has given rise to the acclaimed Soul Biographies Film Series, an experience of human presence viewed by millions.
If I were to hold just one wish for humanity, it is that we remember our innate capacity to experience each other without condition. Such a shift in awareness might resolve many of the towering predicaments of this age and of our own lives.
Words written or spoken by others concerning the consequence of this work may give a useful picture of all of this.
I’ve worked in provocative fashion in some of the World’s most influential arenas, and have given a profound visibility to both leaders and the seemingly ordinary person who it turns out is each a haunting reflection of us all.
The work with and without the camera has been described as sitting in the experience of an unyielding awareness. This experience allows both the subject and audience to see with clear perception, give conscious voice to important things and access an extraordinary source of insight. This is natural intelligence.
I’ve worked with many organizations: Georgetown University, Harvard Business School, Apple, National Institute For Civil Discourse, The Inner Game Institute, Young Presidents Organization, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Prosperidad Ciudadana (Presidential Campaign), Center For Leadership Philanthropy, Medtronic, Nieuw Unicum Multiple Sclerosis Center, Joseph’s House Hospice, MacArthur Foundation, US Bureau of Land Management, MIT Entrepreneurial Forum and many many more.
I’ve been described more poetically as an itinerant confessor, a disruptive influence, a monk independent of any religion and an explorer of the Inner World.
photo credit rebke klokke
For close to two decades I’ve sat utterly still with countless people in front of my camera, and over time it became increasingly clear that there’s another way. A way to tear down the walls that exist between people and in doing so, expose us to the human soul and a common humanity, and an awareness that we belong to each other. It also became clear that this very same way exposes us to a conscious flow of insight and life-force that causes us to act differently, and to speak with an entirely courageous voice. It’s this voice that I’ve made my films from.
A conclusion thus far of decades of close unbridled attention has no-thing as a central starting point.