CHRISTEN SMITH

Blessed Are Those Who Are Angry (2024) is a visual symphony of animation that navigates the space between immersive cinema and communal health. The story of Ofeelia's rebirth and transformation is staged as a participatory meditation room where audience members become contributors and companions on private journeys into the shifting landscapes of the emotional world.

The site-specific video installation features animated compositions created with hand-drawn and frame-by-frame animation techniques. Amidst this landscape, Fight, Flight, and Freeze responses transform into mysterious icons inhabiting an oasis where respite is possible, and the isolating burden of private emotions is lifted.

Born from artist Christen Smith’s confrontation with personal grief, this work invokes the psychic medicine that can be available on the other side of bearing witness to what feels unbearable. Blessed Are Those Who Are Angry was first exhibited in November 2024 at ReNew Queens in Long Island City, NY with the support of a grant from New York Foundation for the Arts and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Visitors engaged with the 4 animated works by contributing their own creative input through designed prompts. Their drawings were incorporated into the installation, dynamically interacting with the light of the animated projections. The prompts also encouraged interaction with others’ drawings, fostering a sense of connection and honoring the shared, private experiences of strangers. This transformed the space into a collaborative environment where participants connected both with the art and with one another.

The exhibition was made possible by a partnership with ReNew Queens. 

The project was made in part with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Description of Animations

Ofeelia In The Moment of Consciousness Before Her Rebirth (2023). Digital video, 2 minute loop.

An abstract animation using digital keyframe techniques. Defying Shakespeare's narrative of Ophelia, who tragically self-destructs offstage from madness, rejection and grief, Ofeelia awakens in a new subaqueous terrain of gently drifting debris.

Premiered in VR WSPark Spring 2023 Exhibition "Sheng 生 (Life)" on the Sansar platform. Curator: Snow Yunxue Fu. Co-hosted with DSLCollection.

Danse of Ofeelia (2024). Digital video, varied running time loop.

Recalling the early animated heroines of Western cinema, a sequence of hand-drawn digital images bring to life an ambiguous choreography.

Visitation (2024). Digital video, varied running time loop.

Frame by frame animation techniques become the humble means of acknowledging the paradoxical energies present in the embodied experience of powerful emotions.

Sediment of the Soul (2023). Digital video, 2 minute loop.

Using drawn rotoscoping techniques, precious, colorful fragments are preserved in a snow globe of looping textures and lines.

Credits

Artist-Animator: Christen Smith.

Sound design, Christen Smith; Music, “Deep Breaths” by Eric Kinny licensed through Music Bed, and “Dancers” by Denise Mei Yan Hoffman Hartwig.

This project was also made possible by the support of many individuals, including: Joy, Garland, Autumn, Reji, Matt, Debbie, Brett, Micala, Amanda, Kendra, Danae, Fannie, Kimetra, Christine, and Carrie.