Chado: Dreaming in Texture

Dominica Harrison’s solo exhibition tour 'Chado: Dreaming in Texture' at Leicester Print Workshop and Bath Artist's Studios.

At the centre of the exhibition is the presentation of the experimental animation, Chado, which combines digital animation and Risograph prints to transform a coming of age tale set in a Russian wilderness into an enchanting short film. The prints produced by the artist will be displayed alongside the film, together with sketchbooks and character design work, to reveal the processes behind making the work.

A combination of Risograph and solar plate prints of characters and sequences were created by the artist for the film, during residencies at Club Del Prado in Buenos Aires and at neo:studios and the University of Bolton. Combining printmaking and animation techniques has been a method employed by the artist, since crafting her graduation film Illusions at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2016.

The printed elements in Chado convey the dissonance between the inner emotional world of the Child character and reality. Dominica Harrison said:

'I incorporated Risograph printmaking, as this technique creates its own slight movement in the texture which brings the animation to life in an unusual way. The ink overlays in printing create a distinctive look with a minimal amount of colour and the paper grain from the scans of the prints adds a hand-made feel to the film. It was important to me to implement this technique as I wanted the film to have a physical presence, not just result in a collection of pixels on the screen. For me animation lies somewhere between fine art and cinematography. I always enjoy the creativity of making and the possibilities that the medium brings.'

The animation Chado premiered at the 18th International Animation Festival in Japan – HIROSHIMA 2020 and won Second Prize at the 19th International Kansk Video Festival. Other upcoming competition screenings include DC Shorts Film Festival, Animatou International Animation Film Festival, Festival of Animation Berlin and VIDEOQUEER 2020 – Florence Queer Festival.

Chado: Dreaming in Texture is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The animation, Chado, is produced by Animate Projects and Dominica Harrison, co-produced with Blind Pig, and is supported by the BFI NETWORK, awarding funds from the National Lottery.

Online talk (30/09/2020) with Leicester Print Workshop: ‘In Conversation With Dominica Harrison’. Recording available online via https://vimeo.com/468475560?share=copy

• https://www.nicaharrison.com/#/chado/
• https://animateprojects.org/chado-dreami...
• https://www.bathartistsstudios.org/event...