Gabe Rowan Salas Luna

Water Damage Redux (v-vi.) Bleeding face, runny nose/ behind tape, on the ground/ unseen, graced; still unfound/ in the sun, in the sky, underwater: he was drowned. Don't forget—keep an eye/ keep the blame, find the stye/ At the end of the day/ You'll go back to the clay/ And finally, finally, make up your mind. ————— Recovery Poem No.2, August '23 (Photos circa 2012, 2015, 50mm, abandoned school in Port Alberni + Burnaby border gravel piles)

Cigars stabbed into sandy ash-stands telling tales of sore mouths and mouth sores; those who have risen resurrect from oceans long departed keep the faith. Or: my Mars vacation, a travelogue in one part. (Utah, 2014, 50mm) #utah #photography #landscape #travel #50mm #composition #colourful #poetry

It's an honour to (giddily) share that I've been selected as a top-thirteen finalist for the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition! The winners of the competition will be announced live during the Golden Sheaf Awards on May 23rd at the 79th Yorkton Film Festival in Saskatchewan. Thank you to the staff and jurors at the CSSC for striving to bring the work of Canadian screenwriters into the limelight; without people willing to organize and advocate on behalf of art and other artists, I'm not sure how we're supposed to... well, have an arts scene at all. So yes: thank you @shortisbetter.cssc ! Very much looking forward to viewing or participating in the upcoming award ceremony. Thanks, as well, to @morebetterbradley for teaching me just what the hell goes into a good script.

Some work inspired by the Artemis mission! (The latter two shots don't have any makeup/level tweaks--the medium really did the heavy lifting)

Excerpt from a recent little bit of flash-memoir i am lonely, today in that deep and robust way that puts cotton in your ears and eyes and mouth so that nothing can get in (Like being stuffed up; sinus infection from a straw) Last night I dreamed of someone I loved and love (early, formative, never forgotten) unspoken for over ten years ... in the garden a crushed pink petal (rhododendron?) floats in brown silted pond-water muddled by gentle rain; in water, reflections of pine cover rivers of sky. Ducks patrol the peripheral, puttering lazy laps like retirees at the public pool ... i want to shy away from the road from the people, from manicured grass i want to run into the arms of something uncaring want to become, want to disjoin, maybe *want* to be alone (I don't know) but living as one with the land, in the land, as the land, of the land integral/meaningless included/exempted duck/boy/girl ... Embossed or debossed on placards and plates: flora, Latin, donors. The names of plants feel like old friends. Like people you've known; no, wait—people you *know*. The difference feels important. Davidia, Acer, Salix, Michelia, Lolanthe, Henderson S and Henderson N. I don't see the plant: only the name. What does that say about me? ... Take photos: Knotted vines gripping desperate-tight to mossy old lattice (Think about [redacted]) Young arbutus boughs bent by plastic chains whose links look like the blades of butterfly razors (Edgy but apt; think about [redacted]) Thirteen oxidized steel stakes driven into beds of leaf mulch so something can grow some day (Think about thinking about [redacted]) Washes of crimson and yellow just beyond reach piles of fragrant composted bark ferns hanging over each other, fronds interlocked (interlocked) ... I raise my head and suddenly like coming out of a bad dream am slapped by the sharp sweet tang of eucalyptus through cotton and hear a lawnmower, somewhere ------- Photo: diphenyl oxalate, hydrogen peroxide, and dye in washbasin, taken July '24

What a night: thank you to @thissideofwest for labouring *at length* to put together a magical event, and to @thevictheatre for graciously staffing the space. The 'This Is Me' script reading was, dare I say, a smashing success. At the very least, it ended up being *exactly* what I hoped it would be—the stuff of daydreams. My first time being published in a non-digital medium since I was 12! An enormous, emotional, heartfelt thank you to @beckwilmart and Mira MacIntyre (untagged, centre) for joining to act/read with me and bring my script to life. Especially considering last-minute changes which gave each collaborator approx. two hours to prep, I am, as always, humbled by my fellow actors. A loud shout to the rafters for every other writer that read. Wonderful, too, to see so many friends and familiar faces from around campus + FINALLY after YEARS get to chat with some of those folks whose paths I had yet to cross. Thanks to Mira for the second pic—the action shot—of Beck and I onstage [Lynch Red Room coded??]. Weird crop on my part, the audience *was* actually packed, is2g. Lastly, obligatory "smoking bad mkay" comment bc hiiii, family. "Special life moments require small sacrifices, doot-scoot-bada-boot"—Richard Nixon, 2011

The wonderful folks at This Side of West have seen fit to publish a short script of mine! I'll be reading an excerpt at the launch party this Friday evening (6:30–9pm at the Vic Theatre, $5 admission); anyone who feels inclined to make an appearance in the name of supporting local writers, litmags, and my suit-clad tush have both my undying gratitude and a steadfast promise of reciprocity. Also: cherry blossoms for breakfast, edited three ways.

Photo cred to @juliedeeluna and her infallible eye! I love my boysss. Rough Collies and half-brothers--Sully (Suls) on the left, [Agent Dale] Cooper (Coop-baby) on the right. As weird as they are handsome and soft. Seasoned jaw-sparring partners; proficient carpet-swimmers; expert countertop thieves--Very Good Boys.

Some shots from this weekend's production of Advertisement 2026! A heartfelt thank you and round of applause to intrepid writer/director Mira MacIntyre and her crack creative team @kit_knndy and @aleksanderoclarino for making @nickisbleeding @marfinfinn @jojosmills Ryan and myself a weird and wonderful world of imagination to act/play in. Grateful to have been cast as Boris, a stone-cold weirdo and Eminem fan mired in pathos. Many thanks + photo cred to @marfinfinn for the pic of me and to Ryan for the b&w exterior group shot; Nick and Ryan, I am truly haunted by the fact that I did not take a single decent picture of either of you. Choked that I couldn't use the Eminem mom's spaghetti remix as the audio, thx Zuckerberg /watch?v=SW-BU6keEUw&t=37s&pp=2AElkAIB.

(Working on some new folky lyrics) Try to hold on to the way that you want to be try to remember you're still who you were; see yourself in reflections refracted through litanies old, bitter, calloused, pounding at the door Put them to the torch, waft smoke fore and aft, hope that the future-tense sees it and buckles you in watch as the heat forms clouds high up above you in cloudburst find closure and soak in the winds Try to hold out for the things that you want to do name all your voices and bake them fresh bread don't doubt that you will find kindness, make symphonies with some strangers so strange that you ain't met them yet

Some random shots from the production of the indie-horror short "Nocte Venit," written and directed by the supremely talented and driven Mirella Nicoll and Rorie Macdonald (starring the equally talented KJ Heal and Kiernan Koebel-Pearce, and supported by a whole host of absolutely wonderful folks). I was lucky enough to be the Director of Production—it was an honour, a fantastic learning experience, four full buckets of stress (...but like, the gratifying kind), and SO much fun. The project is now in post! Jude, Jasmine, KJ, Kiernan, Alex, Rorie, Mirella, Nick, Chloe, and our wonderful extras are all talented treasures, and it was a privilege to work with each and every one of them. Looking forward to future projects with the Uvic crew 🖤 PSA: make sure you've got a dedicated on-set photographer, otherwise you end up with *this* haphazard jumble of shots

I'm in total awe of the talented, charming, gorgeous, and creative folks who have striven to bring The Last DIY Show to life! The project—an indie party-punk horror-short helmed by the singularly impressive @jo.gaffney —has been an joy to be involved with. Every day on set has felt a little like Christmas morning. If you're at Love Island and see blood on the ceiling... that was our bad. Lots of new faces, lots of old faces, lots of magic fashioned from sweat, fake blood, coffee, nicotine, and collaborative labours of love. A heartfelt thanks, too, to the inspired stylings and steady hands of @willowxmua for the makeup in pics one and three (as well as @paintedonflesh for additional makeup in No.4!). Kept the zombie MU on for my prose poem reading at the Deluge gallery last night (part of the Internal Trade reading series) :3 The last pic is courtesy of @hairxjade_ way back in the heady days of 2014. I was 19, then, and it was my first time doing anything remotely related to acting or modelling... I'd like to think that version of myself would be proud of the Me who made it through everything thus far <3 Wrapping Nocte Venit tomorrow (more on this later), Uvic classes finished next week, Christmas coming down the pipe... a good time to be alive! (Photo cred to @depthperception001 for the first pic, @bigears___ for the third pic, and @neonxmeow for the last pic.)