“Mannequin Variations: Studies in Control and Transformation”
A series of short animations exploring the wooden mannequin as a mutable body, sometimes obedient, sometimes resistant, sometimes transformed into the strange and sublime.
Occam’s Razor: The Obedient Body
A straightforward study where the 2D mannequin is moved by human hands, its joints bent with clarity and precision. Here, the mannequin functions as it was designed to: a passive tool, controlled with simplicity and directness.
Opposition: The Defiant Body
The mannequin resists the hand that moves it, shifting on its own, pulling away, and fighting back. Instead of passive compliance, it asserts agency, twisting out of grasp and moving “incorrectly.” What should be a lifeless object suddenly refuses obedience, creating tension between tool and user.
Risk-Taking: The Sublime Body
The mannequin undergoes a disturbing metamorphosis. Its motions become spasmodic and grotesque; limbs multiply, hands sprout in impossible places, and its smooth wooden form dissolves into a surreal hybrid. At once ugly and mesmerizing, the mannequin transforms into a body beyond recognition, challenging what it means to be a figure or a proxy for the human self.
Style and Aesthetics: Chant of The Flesh
The animation begins with a mannequin trembling as if overtaken by possession, its rigid wooden body unable to contain the surge within. Slowly, human flesh emerges across its surface, mutating the figure into something neither object nor fully human. This metamorphosis culminates in the mannequin’s crucifixion, an image that recalls sacred ritual while unsettling the familiar form. At the climax, the transformation ruptures the boundary between mediums: the figure shifts from flat, painterly 2D into uncanny 3D, its body suspended in a barren desert landscape. Accompanied by Gregorian-inspired tones, the work stages a collision between spiritual imagery and digital embodiment.