“Love in the whispering wood: I am a bystander”

About the work:

the concept for this project emerged from a game of dungeons and dragons that i play with some friends. in it, i take on the persona of a young high schooler trying to navigate his way through a fantasy landscape. in one session in particular, my character marthas came out to his mom as gay, and in speaking these words i found that i was overcome emotionally. afterwards, i took some time to think about why it elicited such a reaction from me, and as a result of this i was reminded of the role dungeons and dragons plays for the lgbtq+ community as a safe space and means of feeling empowered and accepted. i wanted to make a love letter to the game for allowing me to navigate my identity during a time that has made doing this otherwise difficult. i also wanted to touch on feelings of longing and loneliness that have become more painful for me personally during quarantine, plainly expressed through the title: love in the whispering wood: i am a bystander. i aim to implicate the viewer as a lonely spectator looking in at a fictitious relationship.

in creating this work, i took a critical look into the art of nick cross, art director for the show over the garden wall. i utilized his background art techniques in both the painting and in the animatic frames. what had originally started as an animated painting developed further as i felt that i needed to tell a narrative that would explain the piece better than i would be able to in any artist statement. i felt restrained with the single painting and felt it would not convey the tone i needed with passive ambient noise and drawings alone. after this, i decided to begin writing a script and making a full animatic to bookend the painting. it ended up being an excellent collaborative experience, as i worked with both my close friend to write the script and several voice actors to find the perfect voices needed for my video.

i hope that viewers of love in the whispering wood: i am a bystander feel a sense of love and tenderness conveyed through both the visuals and the dialogue. i aim to create temporary relief to the loneliness we all may feel and transport the viewer into a magical world which encourages escapism and fond reflection on the past.