Tibetan Sky Burial
Tool: Adobe After Effects, Procreate
Having your body chopped into pieces and fed to hundreds of vultures might seem like the worst funeral.
I only know about Tibetan sky burial through books and stories from other people who had personal experience, but I think it is a beautiful way to encounter, think about and commemorate death. Tibetan Buddhism cultivated a non-anthropocentric worldview and reverence for both nature’s gifts and cruelty.
In this animation, I attempted to reintroduce and illustrate the beauty and sacredness in turning death into one’s last offering to this world.
Jin Shan
Tool: Animate CC, Photoshop
Finding beauty in the broken–
金缮 jīn shàn, is the art of repairing broken objects by mending delicately with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. The “wounds” are intentionally accentuated and turned into elegant designs. Jin Shan treats breakage and repair as a significant element of an object’s story, rather than a flaw to disguise.
In this animation, my interpretation of the Jin Shan philosophy– accepting and even worshiping mistakes and imperfections– is showcased through two characters: one morphed from a broken ceramic bowl and the other representing the golden lacquer. When the wound is no longer treated as the enemy, but a harmonious part of the object, it becomes more beautiful than ever.
