Animation Practice, Process & Production - Decolonizing Animation, Jun 2023

The Tales of the Tribes and the Stories of Our Ancestors are projects that explore the presentation of Indigenous narratives in the medium of animated film. Indigenous knowledge is remembered and transmitted through the rituals, myths, legends and the folklore of local communities around the world. The spoken recollection is a co-creative process that takes place in the space between the storyteller and listener, in which the layers of story and meaning are to be found, deciphered and interpreted according to the time and place. As the stories have animated the cultural landscape, animation as an art form brings life to that which is static. Its audio dimensions, the visual splendour and the imaginative, poetic quality of animated art would be suitable for contemporary presentation of ancient cultural stories and world-views. The lasting impact of colonialism is visible in the continued interpretation of Indigenous cultures and identities in India using Western conceptual models. The abiding representation as ‘backward’ people illustrates the importance of Indigenous young people reappraising their cultural heritage. In societies that have lived in secluded tracts at the periphery of India, knowledge was traditionally passed on from generation to generation through oral communication and literacy was typically introduced much later through modern education. In these localities, bookshops and libraries are few and far between; whereas literature is difficult to access, animation is widely viewed and enjoyed on mobile technology which reaches even the more distant areas and competes for the attention of young people. Becoming familiarized with the applications of digital audio-visual production would liberate new tools and methods to share stories and speak about local history, identity and ways of life. This article aims to describe the two projects and how they addressed the subject of decolonizing animation.

This article delves into the exploration of space, memory and identity through the lens of animation practices. Grounded in the notion that diverse individuals perceive and interact with spaces in distinct ways, the article scrutinizes the significance of space and place, intertwined with their social and cultural connotations, in the context of history, grand narratives and personal/shared memory. Focusing on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded ‘ReSpace’ project, conducted in Rwanda, Kosovo and the United Kingdom, the article highlights the utilization of animation as a catalyst for dialogue, critical thinking and agency among youth. Through art-based workshops and interdisciplinary methods encompassing animation, architecture and anthropology, the project aimed to unravel and reimagine specific sites, particularly in post-conflict regions, challenging prevailing assumptions about pre- and post-war societal realities and the legacies of colonialism. Here the article presents a retrospective analysis of animations co-created by the youth participants and revisits the interdisciplinary methodologies employed, shedding light on the unique articulations of histories and memory that conventional research methods fail to capture. It delves into the potential of animation practices in activating distinct sets of knowledge, echoing anthropologist Tim Ingold’s notion of ‘thinking through making’. Moreover, it contemplates the role of reimagined spatial concepts, as depicted through drawings and animations, in facilitating an epistemic decolonization when integrated into interdisciplinary practices.

The utilization of animation in creative expression has served as a compensatory mechanism for the limitations associated with the conveyance and promotion of information in traditional media. Animated documentaries, with their inherent documentary attributes, possess a unique advantage in the presentation of factual information, the interpretation of non-literal materials and the dissemination of cultural experiences. Ethnic minority oral literature stands as a pivotal vessel for the preservation of ethnic minority cultural heritage, serving as a unique representation of ethnic minority culture. This study is primarily rooted in the principles of visual anthropology and the methods of ethnographic fieldwork, utilizing the oral literature of the Yi people as a case study to delve into the manner in which animation records and represents the oral literature of ethnic minorities. Simultaneously, oral literature serves as a point of departure for the portrayal of the cultural domain of ethnic minorities through the medium of animation, transcending the mere narrative content of oral literature.

Diaspora communities in displacement often hold onto objects that they cherish because they contain memories, expressions and ways of life deeply embedded in their culture of origin. This project investigates animation-making with these objects, deploying a participatory approach, and attempts to create a space for memories attached to these objects to be recollected and come to life. Stop-motion can bring life into familiar everyday objects through sequential photography and manipulation. The physical alteration of the objects and the familiarity of tangible items trigger memories in the viewers that appeal to their past experiences. This article reflects on two participatory stop-motion animation workshops with members of the Armenian diaspora community, deploying an auto-ethnographic research method. It was learned that the workshops involved participants in distinct ways with the memories associated with their personal objects. Moreover, the context of the workshop created an opportunity for these memories to be cared for, which shaped a sense of community.

The British Bangladeshi diaspora is located at a complex intersection in postcolonial Britain. It not only embodies the unfolding legacy of the erstwhile colonial empire but is also a critical site of contemporary debates around race, religion and nation. However, the links between Britain’s colonial histories and its dominant politics of racialization and marginalization of Muslims in the present remain unexamined. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach that combines key concepts from memory studies, diaspora studies and participatory animation methodologies, the article locates how ‘hidden’ histories of colonialism, South Asian partition, migration and settlement, are implicated in the community’s negotiations of the meanings of being British, Bangladeshi and Muslim. Mapping key shifts in the temporal and spatial locations of three generations of British Bangladeshis, the article analyses how multidirectional anti-colonial and anti-racist memories are gradually forgotten as young British Bangladeshis increasingly mobilize a pan-Islamic identity framework to resist racialization and alienation. More importantly, the article showcases a case study that locates how collaborative animation filmmaking into these collective intergenerational pasts helps the younger generations of British Bangladeshis take on these critical but fading memories of the community, enabling them to articulate their own experiences of religious marginalization in process.

This article will discuss how a decolonial multidisciplinary approach leverages Indigenous design elements to articulate and convey the intricate principles of quantum mechanics, exploring the rich intersection of quantum mechanics and abstract animated imagery. In doing so, conventional perceptions of reality are challenged and reimagined. We posit that the confluence of these diverse disciplines facilitates a novel and profound understanding of the universe, interpreting symbolically through an artistic lens secrets that suggest the metaphysical.

In this article, I discuss how an analysis of creating human avatars has been a catalyst for developing a critically engaged use of motion capture data. I demonstrate how my moving image practice responds to motion capture technology processes. This development of a methodological framework has been used to rethink how I construct virtual animated figures. Each stage of making considers data as a piece of interpretive information to create animation. I have examined three phases of production. They are integral to the fabrication, construction and mediation of digital humans found in motion capture libraries. These interconnected processes dominate how motion is captured and used creatively. By utilizing the means of production, my research investigates how cultural hegemonic practices facilitate notions of universalism. I discuss how a model of standardized visual identities is biased towards staging white male normativity as a prototypical human. This observation informs my challenge to find an expansive form of producing digital figures in motion. I have considered how the logic of categories utilized by motion capture libraries promotes a seemingly natural arrangement of racialized differences. Whilst this form of normative coding creates homogeneous bodies, I examine how my own racialized Black identity informs my methods for disrupting the reproduction of this system. My response to the hierarchical structure of colonial systems of order is investigated using theories of the human. These concepts are rooted in Black studies and are deployed as decolonial perspectives. My use of computational data offers an expansive and generative understanding of human movement abstracted from the body. This decolonial response moves away from considering representation in terms of external visual markers of my African Caribbean heritage. Instead, my technical processes navigate how dominant modes of creating virtual characters can rethink ideas of the human within a historical, political and sociocultural context.

Through an auto-ethnographic approach, the artist presents decoloniality as an ongoing, transgenerational process, challenging the commercialization of decolonial efforts. This article explores the unique challenges encountered in academia by an artist who is Brown, Chicana, transfronteriza and Mexican American with Baja California Indigenous ancestry, emphasizing the rejection of code-switching and her stance against coloniality. By spotlighting institutional hostility and reprisals faced while advocating for decolonial initiatives, particularly in support of People of Colour faculty and students, the article addresses the repercussions on the health and wellbeing of activists. It underscores the determination to resist silencing, asserting that the transformative power of transfronteriza nepantlera life experiences propels decolonial artistic expression from a quantum computation-like mindset, showcasing how they push the limitations of new media art and how expanded animation serves as an ideal tool for such expression.