Recently, sand animation and sand art have been rapidly developing. It's not just about creating works on a light table by experienced artists. You may have experienced the beauty and appeal of this art as a spectator of a sand show - the entertainment aspect. An increasing emphasis is placed on sand pedagogy in the form of additional education, and it also finds its niche in the work of psychologists - in correcting behavioral difficulties, working with pregnant women, and so on. Today I will talk about one of the phenomena in the diverse, mysterious and beautiful world of sand.
The first international arctic battle of sand artists 2024
I participated in the monthly online battle of sand artists, which is held by the SAND ACTIVE community, for the 3rd time. I decided to review the event for “Plasticine Mytaho”, since the theme for February was “Mythology of the Arctic”.
"Call of the North Star"/ Artist Larisa Shipunova (Omsk, Russia)
8 images competed for 3 prizes and diplomas from the community. These works made up the album of the same name of the 61st sand competition.
For many participants (men did not participate; there are very few of them in this art form) the topic was new and complex. But the girls boldly plunged into its study and were able to adequately reflect the diversity and beauty of Arctic myths.
The authors of the works, as always at such events, demonstrated a wide variety of sand techniques, interesting approaches to composition and color schemes. Although the sand used in the competition was monochromatic, this did not stop us from creating works in a wide variety of sand shades on illuminated sand tables and sending them in the form of photos for evaluation by our colleagues.
"Mahaha" / Artist Anna Balyabina (Moscow, Russia)
The winners are determined by peer voting during the event (this time from February 4 to 10, 2024). Each person chooses one work for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. You cannot vote for your work. Moreover, until the results are summed up, the participants remain incognito to each other and to the audience and perform under random letters of the alphabet. The names and various cities where the contestants live are revealed only after the winners are determined.
It is the holders of gold, silver and bronze diplomas who propose topics for the next battle to the general vote. Here you cannot sign your works, publish them on your resources before the final, and it is not customary to give them a specific title.
"Shaman Transformation"/ Artist Kristina Kadysheva (Dimitrovgrad, Russia)
In the comments and a special chat of participants, beginners can receive advice, recommendations and guidance from more experienced and venerable ones. The atmosphere is welcoming and friendly, and the degree of communication during the days of competition on the same site is very comfortable. Everyone appreciates this opportunity to express themselves and show themselves, and even get some advice or gain new ideas, as well as make interesting and useful contacts.
On battle days, I conduct audience voting on my VKontakte page and in the “Sandbox” Telegram channel. Often, the opinions of viewers differ from the results of professional voting. I'm interested in engaging the audience in this way in discussing such a cultural phenomenon as sand animation. By expanding the number of reviews and initiating the exchange of impressions outside the sand community, we popularize our business.
"The Childhood of a Shaman"/ Artist Elena Chausova (Brest, Belarus)
Any day now I will be certified as a Sand Artist after completing a comprehensive course in one of the largest online institutions where you can fully obtain this profession. I decided to master it in search of new tools for self-realization in animation. An important factor in this choice was that, rapidly developing, sand animation can become a good source of income.
"Polar Owl"/ Artist Ekaterina Steponaitis (Voronezh, Russia)
Having looked through the album “Mythology of the Arctic”, I think you will not only get a lot of aesthetic pleasure. Some may be surprised by the possibilities of drawing in the sand. But I’m sure we can all agree on one thing: sand art holds great promise for the development of Yamal animation (both for adults and children), as well as for animation in any region.
Sand artist Larisa Shipunova (1st place, Omsk, Russia) talks about her work.
- I was inspired by the mythology of the Yakuts, Evenks, and Buryats. The idea revolved around the Northern Lights, or rather the phenomena that it causes, including myths. The polarization caused by the northern lights is a psychosis that turns people into zombies. Beautiful title “Call of the North Star”. And people lose their minds, they can speak in unfamiliar languages, make inarticulate sounds and show incredible strength, drawn by an unknown call, they eventually freeze, somewhere in the ice. And again, how to realize: are you normal or not, where is the evaluation criterion? Everyone is wandering in their own darkness.
And among the Eskimos, when there was nothing to feed, children could be carried away, supposedly for bail. Here’s one, for example, for mother-nanny Kwallupilluk. This creature is not a person, experiences and everything human are alien to it, it is not evil, not good, it is different. And for me, everything is intertwined here, maybe we are trying to explain some of our inhuman actions by atmospheric phenomena?
Sand artist Anna Balyabina (2nd place, Moscow, Russia) talks about her work.
- This is Mahaha, the world's only tickling demon.
I would like to add that Anna studied many different sources in preparation for this battle. Her comments and opinions were the most interesting and meaningful due to her improved horizons in the topic “Mythology of the Arctic”. I highly recommend getting to know her most interesting character, the raging Eskimo Mahaha, on your own. And at the same time answer the question of the author of the sand painting:
- If my work doesn’t speak for itself, then what’s the point of all this?
Sand artist Kristina Kadysheva (3rd place, Dimitrovgrad, Russia) talks about her work.
- I read myths, just sat and drew lines, shapes... and in the end I got this work and this story for it:
“What’s going on here?!” This is a wonderful dream, the transformation of a Shaman from the snowy Arctic. An opportunity to visit the very heart of the Arctic. An opportunity for people to get from that land to a beautiful icy country. Here the laws of the Arctic strictly change people. Here everyone changes their subconscious. A man becomes a man. Man is a part of nature, it is help and mutual assistance to natural disasters and animals! An interesting composition that takes us into the abyss of the Arctic.”
Christina wrote such lively, inspired, poetic and succinct annotations for each of the battle’s works. This once again made me think how beautiful albums of sand paintings from each battle would be in their printing!
I present the Leader of the audience voting on my platforms. Elena Chausova (Brest, Republic of Belarus) talks about her work.
Here is a fragment of history that shook my soul to its core. The battle’s appeal to such a topic, as expected, stirred such deep layers that you just want to remain silent, swim in the endless ocean or soar through the vast sky, intently contemplate the works of the competition and listen to incredible stories.
- Once I met a resident of the North. He positioned himself as a healer. He told us that once upon a time a shaman from the north spoke to the men of our clan.
And it feels very similar that in our life we had to face something that could directly be the result of such an action. And while drawing this picture, I imagined this shaman as a baby. And I depicted myself in the form of a she-wolf, as if I had come to him from the future and was looking at him with human eyes. And I want him to understand me, as a woman, as a mother. And if there is a mysticism in the world, then you can step in time. And I put the strongest energy into these images. One that is capable of acting in temporary space.
That is, the work is about me personally, not about myths. Because I didn’t have the opportunity to plunge into the mythology of the north, - this is how Elena ended the story, making me think: “how could we all, on the contrary, emerge from this mythology”? Because it is too much our life, and in times like the battle “Mythology of the Arctic” it is exposed and appears right in front of you, behind you, inside you and everywhere. Probably, my audience on social networks is very sensitive to such energy and considered it, giving the film by Elena Chausova the majority of votes.
A few words about my sand work. I’m still far from winning prizes, but according to the professionals, my skill is growing from battle to battle, which makes me happy.
I concentrated on this aspect of mythology as a way of understanding and explaining the world, not rational, but other principles of understanding existing things and the totality of myths of Arctic paganism. The Nenets’ idea of three existing worlds is taken as a basis: the upper (divine), middle (human) and lower (underground, where dark deities and spirits live). They are all intertwined and interconnected. In the lower world “live” the dead, for whom everything is the other way around; there, too, there are plagues in which fire burns. Its sparks turn into the northern lights, in Nenets it is called Kharp. The same name is given to a settlement in the Polar Urals (the Ural Mountains cannot be ignored when talking about the mythology of my Arctic). In Kharp there is one of the most terrible zones in Russia - “Polar Owl”. Mythology is alive, it continues and is happening right now. And the modern mythology of the harsh North is riddled with watchtowers and barbed wire. Gas rigs - as a symbol of mining, on which our economy rests, their “roots” go into the permafrost and draw oil and gas from there, and they, according to the Nenets, are the blood of the underground dark anti-god Nga.
For me, depicting the idea of nature and society (another aspect of mythology) of the North is unthinkable without depicting a reindeer - the basis of the life of small indigenous peoples. The underground world has its own deer - these are mammoths... And so on, and so on, and so on…. I realized that I could in no way fit all my knowledge, experiences, ideas and feelings generated by the theme of the sand battle “Arctic mythology” into one picture. And in this place my composition was framed by a decorative element combined from two Nenets patterns: “birch branch” and “deer antlers”.
In conclusion, I want to say that readers of our site today receive the hottest information literally first-hand. At the time of publication of this material, the official results have not yet been summed up and the names of the participants and winners have not been made public. But in the coming hours all this will be on the pages of the sand community. You can study the album of sand works "Mythology of the Arctic" at the link
Many thanks to the organizers of the sand show and personally to Svetlana Chekanova (Flea Market sand theater) on behalf of all the spectators and participants of the 61st battle.
And in general, why not hold this Arctic battle annually, for example? "Mythology of the Arctic" - annual artic sand art competition? I promise to think about it and discuss it with my colleagues in the sand shop. I invite everyone to the discussion.
Author - Ekaterina Steponaitis
RELATED LINKS
Results of the Russian Arctic animated 2013 year
Oficial response from the Yamal-Nenets Department of External Relations regarding the first Tribal Animation Film Festival
Myniku in India ("Vigorous morning" on the First Arctic Arctic TV channel, 12.03.2019)
How Nyanchedo Myniku Taught a Man to Fly (Script of the animated film 2005)
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