Cat Questionnaire: Ronda Saunders
Second Life photographer, builder, and machinima artist Ronda Saunders dares to answer Cat’s 14 leading questions.
SL Date of Birth: March 3rd 2008.
SL activity: SL photographer, builder and more recently, machinima maker.
RL location: Born RL Cape Town, South Africa, lived in France the UK and currently Australia.
In-your-own-words bio: I’ve had no experience or training in any form of graphic art in RL but here inworld my life revolves around my love of SL photography, creating other forms of SL art, and recently I’ve started experimenting with machinima.
1. What in SL has brought you the most happiness? Definitely the friendships I have and those I’ve had over the five and a half years I’ve been here.
2. What has given you the most sadness?
The loss of friends for whatever reason.
3. How would you describe your home in SL?
My first home was a freebie beach house on a tiny corner of a friends parcel, now I have a house I built myself on my own sim where I’ve created a beautifull tropical island paradise, it’s where I live and have my atelier, my gallery and installations all in the sky above. When I say it’s where I live, I mean that in a very real sense. Everyday when I arrive inworld the first thing I do is to take my dog for a walk across the island to check on the horses feed and water and I often sit alone on my patio in the evenings and watch the sun set across the lagoon…
4. Who in SL do you admire most?
There’s not really one single person but I do admire creative people, all those amazing builders and artists whos works I come across everyday here in SL. Being in total awe of anyone who can make mesh, I guess if I had to pick one person it would be claudia222 Jewell.
5. What character trait do you have in SL that is furthest from your RL personality?
Oh dear lol… OK, I hate to admit it, but I can be a really vindictive bitch when I’m crossed. My RL alter ego is far more tolerant and forgiving than I could ever be.
6. Which character trait did you leave behind in RL?
I don’t think I could isolate any one specific character trait, but in many subtle ways I’m a very different person here in SL to my RL alter ego.
7. What is your weakness when it comes to spending your Linden dollars?
Lol… being a totally self-obsessed and deeply superficial person, what else but clothes, clothes, clothes and more clothes.
8. What is your favorite place in Second Life, and why?
I regularly visit the Drolma Lhakhang Tibetan Temple, the Green Tara temple… it’s my refuge, a peaceful, spiritual place where I can sit and meditate when I need to clear my head.
9. What scares you the most in (or about) Second Life?
I don’t think there’s anything about SL that actually scares me.
10. What is your secret pleasure in SL?
Sorry to dissapoint but I don’t have any “secret ” pleasures
11. What would it take to drive you out of Second Life?
Well like so many of us I’ve survived more than my share of dramas and broken hearts, so it would take a major RL crisis to drive me away from SL now.
12. What one word would you use to describe the art community in SL?
Hmmmm … ok that’s a tricky one, I’d have to say,- “diverse”. There really doesn’t seem to be one cohesive art community in SL… I think it’s more a collection of enclaves rather than a single community
13. What are you most proud of in SL?
I’ve never totally understood the concept of pride… but I guess I’m proud of the home I’ve created for myself here.
14. If you built a sim from scratch with unlimited resources, what would it be called?
I built my own sim from scratch, unfortunately not with unlimited resources… and I called it ” Isla Paradiso “.
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Published in rez magazine, November 2013.
Visit Ronda’s Gallery at Isla Paradiso.
See Ronda’s immersive exhibit, Time Tunnel.
- Cover photograph: “The Scream” by Ronda Saunders.
- Ronda casual portrait: Cat Boccaccio.
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