phenakistoscope

ANIMATION
2016

A phenakistoscope portraying attributes of singer Lana Del Rey.

The assignment was to make a portrait of a public person without portraying the person themselves. I chose Lana Del Rey, since she has made a career out of creating a persona based on different attributes and codes. Both her own, but also more universally pop cultural and american. The esthetic cohesiveness makes us believe in the existence of this persona, this illusion, and romanticise it. These codes and attributes are her shield towards the public, and that is something I resonate with. I too have created a persona that both reflects and enhances me, but it is also one that I sometimes can hide behind.

In this project I have photographed myself while I’m portraying important codes from Lana's universe. As a tribute, but also as a way to show my part in this. I decided to animate the attribute by using an early type of animation called phenakistoscope, a concept I stumbled upon and soon fell in love with. I also decided to place the motive on a vinyl record, which is an important attribute itself.