COMMUNITY ANIMATION

This page documents this experimental, collaborative animation project. To learn more about the project background, click here.

This is the latest iteration of our community animation project, as of October 2024.

Our finished animation will be on view at the Werby Gallery at Cal State Long Beach from December 8—12

Every hand that has touched this project is a reminder that we need each other.
In the heart of a global empire, we have become complacent, scared, and convinced of our aloneness. When we feel alone, we become afraid. And when we feel afraid, we abandon each other. But when we stick together, we become something greater than ourselves. In the collective, we can find our courage.
Every day, Gazans teach us that all we have is each other. We owe them everything. Now is the time to be brave.
Thank you to our community animators thus far, from Long Beach to Seattle to Vancouver, BC:
Gina, Dennis, Katherine, Julayne, José, Jordan, Ke'Ana, Anthony, Daniela, Noelle, Andi, Mausii, TK, Safi, Dani, Cat, Ray, Katelyn, Char, Thara, Niket, Bryn, Allyson, Nick, Isabel, Alicia, Lauren, Xinyu, Ianna, Sibyl, Chong, Lisa, Tanishiqa, Ry, Erika, Lester, Paolo, Kalani, and many anonymous contributors
Sound by @strawberrytoz

JULY 2024

WORKSHOP NO. 1

DATE: JULY 11, 2024
LOCATION: PLACE LONG BEACH
PARTICIPANTS: 15
FRAMES COLORED: 127
FUNDS RAISED: UNKNOWN

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Kat, Dennis, Julayne, José, Anthony, Daniela, Noelle, Andi, Mausii, TK, and many anonymous participants

Flier from the first Community Animation Workshop at Place LB on 7/11/24.

7/11 DonationS report-back

Several fundraisers by community members with connections to families in Gaza and Southern Lebanon were spotlighted with QR codes, but we did not track donations.

our composited animation after workshop no. 1

Progress on community animation after our 7/11 workshop. Line drawings and compositing by Wynn Barnard. Music by Nawal Zahzah. Photos by José Loza. Colorizing by workshop participants.

It takes so much time and effort to produce a fraction of a second of animation.

Every image here represents hours of focused attention. Each drawing contains a prayer, a commitment, or a demand for the end of the genocide of Palestinians, the dismantling of empire, and our collective liberation.

We live in the heart of an empire whose violence extends to every corner of this earth, in a society that tells us we are alone. We feel isolated in our accomplishments, our fears and our struggles. This loneliness is by design. If we saw ourselves as pieces of a whole rather than as individuals, we would understand our power and become less afraid.

What shifts inside of us when we consider ourselves part of a collective? When we pour hours of our time into a few small images that amount to less than one second, knowing that without our tiny fragment, the whole would be incomplete?

This project is about the process as much as the product, to gather together around a focused activity to create some space for some of our unprocessed grief, fear, anger, overwhelm, longing, hope to come through our art. To ground into our collective commitments to resisting apathy and fighting for the world we know is possible. The purpose of this project is to remind us that we are not alone, and that we need each other.

Thank you to all the community members who have contributed so far:

Gina, Dennis, Katherine, Julayne, José, Jordan, Ke'Ana, Anthony, Daniela, Noelle, Dennis, Andi, Mausii, TK, Dani, Cat, Ray, Katelyn, Char, Allyson, Nick, Isabel, Alicia, Lauren, Xinyu, Jordan, Kalani

And *many* anonymous contributors!!

Special thanks to Nawal @strawberrytoz for sound

AUGUST 2024

WORKSHOP NO. 2

DATE: AUGUST 20, 2024
LOCATION: PLACE LONG BEACH
PARTICIPANTS: 17
FRAMES COLORED: 108
FUNDS RAISED: $55

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Dani, Cat, Ray, Katelyn, Char, Nick, Alicia, Lauren, Noelle, Xinyu, and many anonymous participants

8/20 DONATIONS REPORT-BACK

At this workshop I collected donations through my Venmo. I did this because I wanted to be able to track how many donations were coming in through the workshops. I initially received $45 in Venmo donations. These were sent to a community member whose family is fundraising to evacuate their village in Southern Lebanon, as neighboring villages are being bombed by the IOF. The next day, a $10 donation came in. I donated this to a fundraiser that was shared by the same community member, fundraising for the poster’s family in Gaza.

our composited animation after workshop no. 2

SEPTEMBER 2024

ANIMATOR HANEEN

Haneen Muhammad Koraz is an animator in Gaza who has been hosting community animation workshops with youth and women to tell stories about their lives. We connected on Instagram in late August. Since learning about her work, I am directing all future donations to Haneen’s GoFundMe. Learn more about her work on her Instagram.

VANCOUVER DONATIONS REPORT-BACK

These workshops were hosted remotely by Lisa Marr of Echo Park Film Collective North in collaborative with Xinema and Climate 4 Palestine. Lisa hosted a series of film screenings and invited attendees to participate in our community animation project. The results were beautiful! To my knowledge, no funds were raised for Haneen at the event.

VANCOUVER BC WORKSHOPS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 6 & 16 2024
LOCATION: VANCOUVER, BC, HOSTED BY ECHO PARK FILM COLLECTIVE NORTH IN COLLABORATION WITH XINEMA AND CLIMATE 4 PALESTINE
FRAMES COLORED: 74
FUNDS RAISED: $0
PARTICIPANTS: UNKNOWN

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Inanna, Sibyl, Chong, Lisa, Tanishiqa, Ry, Erika, Lester, Paolo, Rocky, and many anonymous participants