Defending the Canvas

Different genre and media move different people, this may seem like a truism, but I've been told that one of my friends asked "what is the point of animation?" I believe that the gist of his argument ran: after all, movies show basically everything that animation can, but with real stuff. I was trying to put together a good explanation, when I saw Kseniya's Simonova's performance sand art from a clip on Youtube that she did for Ukraine's Got Talent.

NPR mentioned the Guardian article [1]. Kseniya draws the portrait of a young couple that met on the eve of Ukraine's bloody invasion by Germany during WWII and the subsequent occupation. Ace of Spades mentions that 1/4 of the population had been murdered [2] by the end of the war.

Young Couple at the eve of war

From some of the Youtube comments, I gather that the husband is sent away to war, and she bears his child. The young wife recieves a letter telling her of his death. An old woman mourns a fallen soldier in the war torn city. The young wife still remembers him.

Soldiers go off to war


The Sorrowful Letter


Mourning


Memories of the Fallen Remain

Kseniya's performance is different from animation in several respects. First, this is a live creation of sand art. Also, the images tell a story, but is not the incremental frame animation that we are used to. However, the essence of the sand art is that it starts from a blank tableau and uses opaque sand and stark whiteness to tell her story. Instead of paint, she used sand. Instead of a canvas, she used a tabletop. Yet the picture she paints becomes shear force to the tear stricken audience. Her spare lines are stark against the whiteness. The image is powerful, like a whisper is loud in a hushed room.

In the vast majority of live action, the director's camera captures a reality that is already exists, whether it is the onsite shot, the arranged set, or the actors brought. I recall reading a film philosopher who likened the camera to stealing the audience's eye. The angling & centering of the lens and zoom all are used to focus the stolen eye on key visual elements. By contrast Kseniya and animators craft a world starting from pure nothingness and working their way up from there. And the effects can be quite startling.

[1] Which I found through the Ace of Spades Blog.
[2] WWII & the Soviet years helps to begin explaining the happy-go-lucky attitude of your average Slav.