Maija Lidija Kurcisa
Crab Meat is an animated short film about a man named David Smith who is cursed by the Crab God to prove that he has changed. It is a mixed media film making use of traditionally painted backgrounds and assets alongside 2D hand drawn digital animation. The additional assorted work represents a variety of artistic styles and pursuits I have undertaken throughout my years at IADT.
CRAB MEAT was born from a personal fear of mine, the fear of not having changed enough. I wanted to capture an attitude towards change. I did this by creating a story and visual world that allowed me to explore these themes without making the subject matter heavy or negative. I believe there is no better way to tap into the feeling of an experience than through non-literal representation or in better words mythorealism the topic of my accompanying thesis.
The majority of my work centers around my curiosity and love for the world. Living life is an unyielding force of inspiration. Animation as a medium allows for a level of expression that is an ultimate freedom and in combination with narrative, a powerful tool of communication. To show someone a feeling, to connect to an experience to visualize a thought, to share in something. That's what its all for, or maybe I can just make something funny and stylish.
There is something about animation that makes the unbelievable believable, a phenomenon that manages to bridge the gap of communicate and express complex human experience by representing it non-literally. In this thesis I apply Yan Lianke's literary theory of mythorealism and through the example films of Mamoru Hosoda explore the how the potential symbiotic relationship between mythorealism and animation functions and succeeds in suspending and maintaining the audiences disbelief. In order to craft emotionally resonant narratives that embrace the freedom animation as a medium offers without loosing the 'heart' that makes these stories whole.
Animation is the closest thing to real magic that exists. That is what made me fall in love it. I am multi-media artist based in Dublin with a wide variety of experience ranging from commercial advertising and animation work, stop motion fabrication, production coordination and post production. I live for the creative collaboration that animation encourages and look forward to working with as many different people as I can, on as many different projects as I can.
