09.15.22 – 12.01.22
The animation features a series of handwritten words (taken from graffiti on the sides of desks in Sterling Memorial Library) coming in and out of view and performing a variety of animations. Graffiti ranges from humorous messages to heartfelt love notes.
“Welcome to the Wall of Struggles™!”
I converted each handwritten message into a 3D mesh, which I then sculpted and textured in Blender. I went with a chrome texture on top of black background for high contrast and an unmissable shine for passersby in the Schwarzman Center.
I used simple keyframe animations –– spins, flips, and bounces, for instance –– to move each section of text, allowing the chrome texture to shine and refract at different angles. These animations keep the projection feeling lively throughout its four-minute duration.
Because the walls of the Schwarzman Center were so wide, we designed the animation to use as much available space as possible. When projected, the handwriting in the animation runs from one edge of the wall to the other.
Awuor Onguru, another Yale student, wove the found text into an original poem as part of the exhibition. At the end of the animation, the camera pans out to reveal all the words strung together into a cohesive found poem.
Other artists were commissioned to design animations for the Schwarzman Center. These animations were displayed concurrently with ours. To learn about the artists behind the other animations in the exhibition, visit the Schwarzman Center website.
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