Misread Signs

2019
Duration: Short version 3 minutes 51 seconds, long version 12 minutes 30 seconds

Animation by Yuliya Lanina
Music and sound design by Jose Martinez

“Misread Signs” explores the effects of trauma on human psyche. All images are hand painted and then animated on the computer. Based on Lanina’s personal experience of surviving brutal rape and becoming mute for five days afterward, this piece examines the inability for someone who just went through a traumatic experience to express or even connect with how they feel.

Lanina’s collaborator, composer José Martinez uses recordings of Lanina’s voice as his audio material, rendering her deeply personal text and songs beyond recognition while transforming her voice to the extreme in order to convey the urgency of expression.

The piece transcends the particulars of artist’s life experience into a universal story of perseverance and asks us to reflect on our connection to ourselves, to our past and to each other.

Link to long version

The animation was turned into a unique 5670x1080 px animated journey. Showcased in a unique, off axis immersive CAVE system, users were able to enter the narrative of touch, trauma and change on the human psyche.

The animation borrows its title from a poem by Jennifer Atkinson.