V A N I S H I N G

Silvia Gariglio Sound by Eugenio Mazzetto During quarantine our relationships with ourselves, the physical environment and social interactions have changed. The lack of relationships - I mean face to face - quickly altered the image we have of our body because the idea we have of ourselves is also formed through the eyes of other people. In living isolated, overwhelmed by tension, fear and a sedentary lifestyle, our bodies are undergoing a transformation. Quarantine days slip into one: repetitive and alienating. I realized I was staying in my pajamas all day, no makeup, messy hair, neglecting all the little things I do for my well-being. So, I decided to fight against this: every morning I get dressed, I put on my makeup, I style my hair… this routine, these small actions help me to maintain a little normalcy. In my animation the protagonist finds herself disappearing under her clothes, surrounded by a cacophony of sound: coronavirus news, Skype notifications, messages, emails… Her head evaporates into a cloud of thoughts while she fades into both the white noise and the totally white background. The mouth, the center of many fundamental components of human activity (eating, speech, breath, romance, communication, interaction, almost a door to the soul) remains closed. Vanishing is an experience of our body and mind; a result of melancholic isolation and a lack of human empathy and real connections. But hope is not lost, I think that reflecting on transformation and change is the best way to understand our individual resilience and have faith in our ability to adapt. We might vanish for a moment, but we will reappear. This rotoscope animation is the result of the animation project "The transformation of the AC / DC body (before and after COVID-19)" with the artist ShiShi Yamazaki, organized by Fundación Japon en Mexico. In this project, a group of young artists from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Italy, have reflected, together with ShiShi, about life and body before and after COVID-19 using digital rotoscopy technique. The animation appeared during Animasivo Festival, 2020