Artist Statement
written by Adrienne Scott


_Character Studies is a short experimental animation that was produced at the Toronto Animated Image Society during the summer of 2022. This animation is non-narrative, and uses eclectic means and materials in a stop-motion animation. The movements in this animation are improvised, and the objects are a mix of natural and artificial forms. Several of the objects and references are collected from Leslie Spit in Toronto, a park significant to the biodiversity of the region, which also happens to have grown out of a dumping ground for construction discards. In the manipulation of these objects and references, this animation privileges fiction, tactility, absurdity, and play.

_This animation is an extension of my photo practice, in which I collect, alter, and collage found objects to exist in fictional spaces and landscapes. The visuals in this animation involve these found objects, but are also abstracted from references that feature the natural and artificial character of the landscape of Leslie Spit and the environs of Lake Ontario.

_The sound for this animation was made in collaboration with Jess Tsang, a percussionist based in NYC with a practice based in found objects and improvisation. Many of the objects that appear in the animation were also used to create the uncanny textures in the accompanying soundworld.