MASK
BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, Rochester UK in collaboration with the MASK School for Creativity and Innovation in Kenya
In early 2016, recent graduates from BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, Rochester, UK were invited to respond to the winning artworks of the MASK Prize, a creative competition for schools and young people under the age of 25 in Kenya. Each animator worked with one selected artwork and from it produced a short animation. This latest collaborative project was a unique creative exchange between young artists in Kenya and recently graduated animators in the UK.
In order to allow communication between practitioners in the two countries, the CAA/MASK blog was established. The blog facilitated creative exchanges between the original creators of the artworks and the animators working with them.
The resulting exhibition, Transformation/Mabadiliko, showcased the final animations alongside the artworks that inspired them. First exhibited at the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester's Zandra Rhodes Gallery, the Mabadiliko animations went on to be showcased at the Turner Contemporary, Margate.
MOBILE ART SCHOOL OF KENYA (MASK) PRIZE WINNING ARTWORKS
The MASK prize aims to promote creativity and the value of the arts in the context of wider societal growth and transformation in Kenya. MASK provides young people with the unique platform to celebrate, share, and unite in their creativity.
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS, ANIMATED SHORTS
Lamu Under Orange Skies, Fahima Munene / Animation, Steven Payne
Speaking of his experience working on Lamu Under Orange Skies with Fahima Munene, Computer Animation Arts graduate Steven Payne said: “As I learned more about Fahima, the artist I’d been partnered with, and her life in Lamu, the importance of schemes such as MASK became very clear to me. Creative expression and the expansive means to do so are something that we all take for granted. MASK and initiatives like it provide young people with the means to be creatively expressive and foster skills that would otherwise be neglected in their everyday lives, as well as encouraging sociability, independent thinking and cultural exploration.”
Adore Woman, Edwin Wainana / Animation, Samantha Niemczyk
Edwin Wainaina, whose work was re-imagined by Samantha Niemczyk, said: “Working on this project opened for me the whole new reality, art became a whole new concept."
What The Noise Gave Me, Paula Karanja / Animation, Vikki Kerslake
Paula Karanja: "What The Noise Gave Me was inspired by personal experience. I wanted to isolate a time that was pivotal in my decision of what I was going to do after high school graduation. What was I going to do with my life when I grew up? How was I going to start? Those were some of the questions I'd ask myself over and over again. That was the noise."
Elephants, Allan Kiptoo / Animation, Nat Urwin
Nat Urwin: “Once I’d received the project, I asked the artists things such as how their artworks were supposed to feel like if they were brought to life, what stories they were telling, and what materials were used to create them. I had already decided on the styles of animation based on the images themselves, but the information given by the artists helped decide the content of them. These projects are very important for bringing culture and skills together, and above all they're inspiring to a wide audience, most importantly, the young artists. I know I would have had great inspiration if my drawings were brought to life by professionals when I was a kid.”
Greener Pastures And The Colours Of Youth, Churchill Ongere / Animation, Emily Clarkson
Churchill Ongere: "I like what you've done so much! The model is coming to life!"
Daydream, Louis Tamlyn & Samson Lazima Jali / Animation, Ethan Shilling
Louis Tamlyn: "If I had to imagine this as an animation, I would see it as something quite slow, with dreamlike effects, magical ones, of things morphing into each creating new faces or landscapes."
My Home, Shela Forster / Animation, Nat Urwin