The Function of Strange Art During Hard Times

 
 

MAY 8 / 6:30PM - 9:30PM / WEEKEND 2

THE FUNCTION OF ART DURING HARD TIMES: Animation As A Life-Giving Practice

PROGRAMMED BY MERIT THURSDAY / SCREENING + Q&A WITH THE ARTISTS

LOCATION: PF MAIN GALLERY 144

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This evening of animation celebrates independent artists making highly unusual work. These artists represent, to this curator, the breadth of artists whose work exists outside of, and in defiance to, the status quo often demanded from animators. These films delve into personal relationships, micro explorations of the body, macro explorations of capitalism, journeys into the past, and dreams of the future. Hear from the artists themselves about their process, practice, and praxis.

Fingertips: CC Stanhill

Doomscrolling: Sishir Bommakanti

Strange Forest: Shafrin Islam

second born son: a transsexual documentary: Merit Thursday

Take Off the Blindfold, Adjust Your Eyes, Look in the Mirror, See the Face of Your Mother: Jonni Peppers

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MERIT THURSDAY
MERIT THURSDAY

Merit Thursday (he/him) is a trans/queer artist, experimental moving-image maker, educator, and curator. He is an award-winning animator who has screened work globally, was a '23-'25 Jerome Fellow, and is a current MFA candidate at UIUC class of '28. When he isn't making art, Thursday teaches at MCAD, hosts the local show Weird Stuff Only, and spends time with his husband Elliot and their two cats Ms Wendy and Mr Lou.

CC STANHILL
CC STANHILL

CC Stanhill founded Studio Mirthrite Animation in 2015. Their films explore themes of queerness and fluidity. At least, that's what they think they're exploring. It's mostly weird shapes moving around in fancy patterns. They were once described by a prominent person as "quite a lucid sort of fellow."

SHAFRIN ISLAM
SHAFRIN ISLAM

Shafrin Islam is an interdisciplinary artist and illustrator from Bangladesh currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Working across illustration, experimental animation, film, poetry, installation, and sound, they explore themes of identity, time, language, and the intersections between natural and imagined worlds through geographical mythology.

Through mixed-media storytelling, Shafrin challenges traditional narratives, blending tactile materials and digital techniques to create worlds that feel both intimate and expansive. Their work invites wonder, playfulness, and introspection, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary while expanding the boundaries of storytelling.

SISHIR BOMMAKANTI
SISHIR BOMMAKANTI

Sishir Bommakanti is an illustrator, painter and animator from Minneapolis, MN. His work ranges from the surreal, mythological, absurd and experimental. Working in a range of mediums, from painting, drawing animation, 3D, interactive, photography and other experimental mediums. 

His work is a commentary and reaction to the overload and burnout of a society that's been caught in a spiral of endless feed of information and noise. Using mythological characters and fantastical, surreal settings, he builds an entire new world to process and relay our age of informational overproduction.

 
ScreeningPublic FunctionaryWeekend 2, May 8