Dénouement: A Subjective Reflection on Death, Loss and Grief through Animation Practice

Abstract

Death, a universal human experience, has been represented and understood in numerous ways throughout time and across cultures. Dénouement is a practice-based research project that engages with the emotionally fraught and complex experience of losing a loved one. The research positions the medium of hand-drawn animation as rich territory for exploring visual expressions of the internal, psychological, and abstract dialogue when grieving. As a personal reflection of in-articulable feelings, the aim is not to show the world as it is but as it is travelled through psychologically.
 The final short film underpins the practitioner’s passion for drawing the world (as they see it), moving it in time and moving those who view the work, emotionally.
 This article is a reflective dénouement of the author's Master's journey. The full Master's thesis can be accessed here: https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/15296