The Sound of Flowers Dying -- animated lyric video (John Trudell's "Look at Us") 

The Sound of Flowers Dying | animated video, 2020
Features the music and poetry of Dakota poet John Trudell from his 1983 album Tribal Voice ("Look at Us").
I wanted to create a memorial piece that shares Trudell's words with a wider audience as I don't think he gets enough recognition for his powerful writing.
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I have heard different stories of the meaning of butterflies in L/Dakota cultures: how they carry stories on their wings of the places they've been, how they represent departed spirits and new life, how they encircle what is precious. So those are the meanings of the butterfly in this animation, as they escape Iŋktómi the spider's tricks with the help of Aŋpétu Wí, the L/Dakota sun spirit. The glitch effects represent the way humans are corrupted from the natural ways, as Aŋpétu Wí tries to illuminate the path for us to find balance again.
Wáǧačhaŋ the cottonwood tree is used in the sacred Sundance ceremony (healing ceremony) as well as representing the "tree of life" because of the star found in the bark. Anywhere Waȟčázi the sunflower grows is considered sacred ground because they maintain continuous prayers to Aŋpétu Wí as they follow his journey across the sky.
marlenamyl.es
#characteranimator #johntrudell #poetry