I had quite a few ideas in mind when developing this collection, it all started with the RV we rented for our American road trip. Which was the first animation of the collection that I made. I wanted the RV to remain the centre point but for the background to change, to encapsulate our journey through the very different environments we travelled through as we crossed states, which I still think would be really fun! But unfortunately I couldn’t make this fit into the expectations from the Scunthorpe Studio School opportunity, which was for our work to fit into the theme of ‘place’, specifically North Lincolnshire (as we were funded by North Lincolnshire Council). So I switched up my idea instead, to a story that guides the audience through all the vehicles that lead to me getting my van, and subsequently enabling me to facilitate travelling to Scunthorpe in order to take part in the studio opportunity! The idea then shifted once more to limit it to just 4 animations, and that each of these animations would represent one of the four seasons. This was partially down to time restraints, but also as I thought more about what it was that I was trying to say within my work, and how it would look as a final outcome.
I decided I wanted the collection to encapsulate my personal narrative of emotional recovery achieved through various road trips, as this also eventually lead to me taking the plunge and buying my van, which brought me to Scunthorpe where I was able to re-enter my artistic practice following an incredibly challenging year of adverse personal challenges and ADHD burnout.
Throughout my healing journey, I also reignited my love for reading, I read books in order to slow down, and got through a load of audio books on my long drives. I read both fiction and non-fiction books that I feel shaped me, which I hope to go into more detail about at some point, but one in particular was Wintering by Katharine May. A perspective-shifting memoir that teaches us to draw from the healing powers of the natural world and to embrace the winters of our own lives. This resignated with me a lot, so I decided I wanted each of the animations to represent one of the 4 seasons, hinting at the slow and cyclical nature of healing.
To try and embed this theme within my project, I decided to also make bookmarks of each of the scenes too, they aren’t the highest quality, but a free and engaging addition!
