EXHALE is a series of four short films centered around filmmaker Callie Newsom Doyle’s mental state during each season and overall emotional arc in a year. SPRING is a meditative piece that invites viewers in and makes them feel at ease. SUMMER consists of four monologues delivered directly to the audience that explore sexual trauma, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and PTSD. FALL follows a nonbinary person returning to a house that is the source of an unspoken trauma. Finally, WINTER is an abstract piece that focuses on Newsom Doyle’s identity as a transwoman and celebrates the journey towards acceptance of self. Designed as an installation piece, viewers will move around a room to view all four shorts, changing space as the season changes. The main themes of the work are mental health, trauma, and acceptance.

As Newsom Doyle explains of EXHALE: “My goal with this project is to create a space where people can discuss these heavy topics with zero judgment and in a non-exploitative manner. Trans people exist, and their trauma is very real. It should be talked about, but it also isn’t the only part of our identity. The Four Seasons captures the high and low arcs that I go through in a year and encapsulates what one specific trans person experiences while also opening the door for other trans people to discuss what their experience looks like.”

>> Center for Arts + Justice Interview with Callie Newsom Doyle