Anoushka Agarwal

There is a darkness one can convey in animation, which provides the guise of being a child’s medium. One can portray the deepest emotions where verbal expression falls short. The itch that we all feel internally can be metaphorically depicted in animation, which is what I approach in my creative practice. 

I am an observer interested in the small interactions of our everyday existence. My work is often self-reflexive, capturing my experiences or of patterns of behaviours that I have noticed in those around me. Creating an animation is a cathartic exploration of my inner self and allows me a space to express my vulnerability. 

Materiality, tactility and textures are central to my work and inform every decision of my research, as I want to create a visceral journey for the viewer, to bridge the gap between the screen and the physical. I experiment with various techniques such as watercolour on paper, risograph printing, puppet stop motion, and paint on glass, alongside digital 2D animation. I picked up the handicraft of crochet during Covid as a way to deal with the anxiety of being trapped indoors, and this opened up a new territory of research for me as I started questioning the roles of women within households and what womanhood entails. It started from a place of anger but has transformed into a constructive pathway for me to analyse non-dominant groups within society. My works aim to create awareness and visibility of underrepresented narratives.