A Poignant Animation Lays Out the Art of Navigating Grief

The coping mechanism many use to deal with dramatic loss is rarely the healthiest or the most artistically pleasing. For artist Yan Dan Wong knowing how to communicate the experience in a tender animation could help those who are struggling. In a colorful video for Vulfgang Rainstorme‘s immersive track “Semblance” Wong and co-animator Annalotta Pauly as well as Lynn Yun combine their talents to bring to life sequences mimicking rolling waves and the drifting of dandelion seedlings that add to the video’s metaphor of grief.

A whimsical color palette, featuring shades of blue and red, wash over the animation in abstract shades and swaths of opaque. The final scene of the short mirrors the beginning, with the main female character resting in a puddle of water. The protagonist of “Semblance” is decidedly more relaxed, content to float in the tiny pool rather than feel overcome by it. Take a look at a few stills from the animation, and the full video below:

To see more animator, Yan Dan Wong, visit her website, here, and her Vimeo page, here.

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