A Friendship Over the Centuries

David Alexander Flinn and Jamie Bochert are two of a kind. This much is clear watching the models-turned-artists’ latest collaboration: Bochert’s band Francis Wolf’s music video, “Isabella.” Inspired by the 14th century Italian story of the same name by Giovanni Boccaccio, the imagery within the “Isabella” video reflects a ritualistic space of hidden symbols and spiritual transcendentalism. The concept for the video–that of digital priestess–was conceived entirely by Flinn, though it is something Bochert says she “deeply connects to.” With it’s haunting melodies and dark visual cues, the piece melds musicianship with visual beauty and grace.

The video marks Flinn’s directorial debut, although he is also currently working on his first feature film inspired by the masters of Italian Giallo. “With my background as a sculptor, I think the biggest challenge was learning to translate the inspirations and concepts from a static frame to a continuous narrative and creating a cohesive stream of thought,” the 27-year-old explains. “Personally, creating a video was just like writing a poem or painting. It was translating an abstract entity that was internal and simply externalizing it,” he continues. “I didn’t have the structural limitations of a formal background subconsciously telling me a frame or lens wasn’t correct. I just wanted to create something that was what I perceived as true to Jamie.”

Flinn and Bochert have been friends for longer than you might think, and Bochert’s artistic work originally appeared on Flinn’s online artist residency program The Infinity Pool. “The first time I met Jamie, I knew I had met her in a previous life and that I never wanted to not have her in my life again,” Flinn says. “Personally, I feel like we just picked up our friendship from the 14th century where we had left it off, and we wanted to make something that paid tribute to this past time in our other life.”