Aoife Balfe Bean Uí Dhíomsaigh

MA Animation
The Gentle Artist: Records of Experience

The practice of animation, when considered in its expanded and eclectic experimental forms, may be shifted from its usual position of being a production method for traditionally narrative filmmaking and move into a realm of expressive cinematic art. The process itself becoming a mode of thought, where each frame contains something that is examined, reflected upon, and translated into an image the making of which enables the artist to find new information and understanding of the experience perceived and additionally instructs the audience, enabling them to see and share the perceived experience. Through this process animation becomes a means for phenomenological investigation.

Looping animated boil of title text
Looping animated boil of title text
Pencil animation of two figures bowing
Pencil animation of two figures bowing
A selection of blind drawings of BJJ sparring practice.
A selection of blind drawings of BJJ sparring practice.
A selection of ink drawings done from BJJ sparring practice.
A selection of ink drawings done from BJJ sparring practice.
Full body prints of back break fall and stand up technique, forwards roll, and backwards roll.
Full body prints of back break fall and stand up technique, forwards roll, and backwards roll.
Full body prints of back break-fall and stand up technique, forwards roll, and backwards roll.
Documentation images of the artist with full body prints.
Documentation images of the artist with full body prints.
Documentation images of the artist with full body prints.
A selection of semi-blind contour drawings done from within the positions of bow and arrow choke, armbar, and straight ankle lock as encountered in BJJ.
A selection of semi-blind contour drawings done from within the positions of bow and arrow choke, armbar, and straight ankle lock as encountered in BJJ.
A selection of semi-blind contour drawings from within positions of bow and arrow choke, armbar, and straight ankle lock as encountered in BJJ practice with accompanying documentation stills.
Ink animation frame.
Ink animation frame.
Composite animation of blind and sequential animation of BJJ, eyes, and hands with vertical red and blue bars.
Composite animation of blind and sequential animation of BJJ, eyes, and hands with vertical red and blue bars.

It is as if I am drawing myself into existence. The hand of the animator creates the animator herself. ​I am animator and animated; subject and object; drawing myself through the act of drawing and ​animating myself through the act of animation.

Birgitta Hosea
Composite pencil animation of a body with vertical red and blue bars.
Composite pencil animation of a body with vertical red and blue bars.
Laurel Official Selection FECIMU 2026
Laurel Official Selection FECIMU 2026
Project Objectives

My project aimed to examine the realm of embodied experience encountered in both Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and in drawn Animation practice. I wanted to explore and express these connected experiences as a lived body and propose animation through observational drawing as a means of phenomenological investigation.

Thesis
Research Report
Collaborative Module Workshops Report
Aoife Balfe Bean Uí Dhíomsaigh
MA Animation

I am an artist, animator, and educator.

My practice blends traditional and digital media and is primarily based in observation, with particular interest in the connections between and intersections of life drawing and animation.

I enjoy horizontalised structures and sharing experience.

MA Animation