The artworks sit between experimental film, documentary and animation, weaving life with art in an installation where films are displayed alongside a selection of hand drawn frames taken from the animations.
Camera Obscura showcases animators Lizzy Hobbs (BAFTA nominee), Em Cooper (2024 Grammy winner for Best Music Video) and Leo Jamelli (Derwent Art Prize) working with real life subjects and documentary storytelling, using experimental and hand formed methods. The exhibition derives its name from one of the foundational devices of the history of cinema, the phenomenon where light passing through a hole into a dark room projects an image of the outside world.
Inside a camera obscura you can see the moving world outside reflected onto a wall or surface, however the scene is inverted and distorted. Similarly animators often distort and exaggerate their subjects for greater emotional effect and impact. The animations exhibited are based on real life stories, portraits and people, but invert reality using experimental processes and multi-disciplinary approaches to filmmaking, creating emotional and poetic interpretations of lived experience.
Image Credit: The Debutante © The British Film Institute, Animate Projects, Elizabeth Hobbs.