Slippages | Grace is a 2D/3D animation about the mysteries of time, life and consciousness. From 2004 – 2009 my art was exploring the subjectivity of the elderly and consciousness as a shared data-based narrative.
My elderly parents became the subject for these studies as they shared over 70 years of stories and experiences together. All of their stories wandered off into different narrative moments due to their lack of focus on the now, but also because of their own unique memories.
In 2013 my beautiful Mother Grace passed away and then in 2016 while I was still making this animation, my beautiful Father Jack also passed. I re-focused my art and attention on making an animation to help me understand the process of dying, to deal with the grief, and also to understand where their consciousness may have gone in their final moments.
My hope is that it may also give the viewer peace and some insight into the mystery of this transitional process and our animated consciousness.
Slippages | Grace animation explores the final moments of an elderly woman’s existence and takes the viewer on a journey as her consciousness leaves her body at the point of death.
Set against the austere landscape of the Australian bushland, overlapping images of ever increasing clarity inform the Grace’s consciousness as she moves toward the end of her life. Proof of her existence through the many experiences, take on a personal symbolism; these include kittens, stolen houses, car rides, cockatoos and horses across multiple moments and environments.
All art, animation & sound design by Kathy Smith
Completed December 2017, Slippages | Grace 10mins color 5.1 surround released 2018
Available for exhibition on DCP and IMAX