why plasticine?

- clay is of the earth, bodies are of the earth. plasticine is to clay as characters are to human beings. they imitate
- plasticine characters are constantly maintained during filming and are recycled into other shapes after filming. the process of animating plasticine characters references human life cycles in the changing flesh and eventual destruction of the body
- plasticine is made from chemicals and cannot decompose or make permanent shapes (as natural clay can be fired). it might exist longer on the earth, but its utilitarian lifespan is generally shorter. there is a melancholic and endearing affect generated by claymation characters due to their small scale and vulnerability. even though they are digitally rendered upon consumption, there is still a sense of vulnerability and the potential to squish clay figures
- plasticine connotes craft making, childhood, industry, casting, artificiality, malleability, play, humour, children's shows but also being a child and being instinctively terrified of claymation shows (what is that?)
- neuroplasticity and the malleable nature of identity is of interest to me. we shape-shift like clay.
- the chemical/artificial makeup of plasticine infuses animations about the banal and/or familial with a sense of artificiality and eeriness. i often reference dissociation and mental illness in my work and these animations might represent those emotions through their material form

- stop motion animation can represent creation of life as the process itself involves bringing inanimate objects to life. characters are carefully made by hand with evidence of thumb prints/indents, and the editing process allows still images to come together and produce the illusion of a living moving creature

this week i was thinking about

and