Strings By Christina Turriak Essay

“Strings” by Christina Turtriak is a claymation depiction of giving up when faced with a challenge. Christina Turtriak explained in her presentation that the theme in many of her projects is the human form without a soul. She shows this idea through her creations of deformed people in drawings, sculptures, short animations, and her performances where she dresses up as a blind, painted figure, bringing her two-dimensional ideas to life. Her claymation video “Strings” starts out with a lifeless clay figure sitting on a chair, unmoving. Then, the figure starts to sprout colourful strings pouring out of its head, fingers, toes, and eyes. This is where we see the figure first move, as it reacts to the strings sprouting out of itself. This figure is has no soul, but still it fights the strings as they try to take over. The figure tries to pull off the strings, but they keep growing, this makes the figure begin to retreat, and the strings grow longer and more powerful. Eventually, the clay figure gives up, showing the viewer that it has no motive or desire, giving off the impression of being soulless. …show more content…
Instead, we watch as the figure is only reacting to the strings that begin to take over. Very quickly, the clay figure gives up and crumples into a ball, allowing the strings completely take control of its existence. The strings that grow from the clay person are symbolic of an internal struggle coming to the surface. By having the strings in different colours, this can be interpreted as multiple issues coming out. We see the strings become too much and the being looks as though it is in pain, as the strings smear and grow. The clay being hunches forward and falls off the chair, breaking the chair as it tumbles. This shows that the being is in agony and giving up very quickly when the circumstance becomes too much to