Animation, Memory, and the Self-Portrait

This introductory experimental animation and media course will explore color, images, and the remains of our memories to reconstruct, reimagine, and expand ideas of the Westernized archetype of self-portraiture. Where do fiction and autobiography embrace? What does self-portraiture have to do with either? Students will animate their findings using collage, video, drawing, and repetition. We will first gather sounds, memories, found objects, and new experiences to workshop our personal self-portrait. An essay by Toni Morrison, "The Site of Memory", and a variety of experimental media practices will guide us. The final project will be a collaborative installation-performance, using source material created during the class. No prior experience of animation, performance, video, or sound editing is required.