Animate my ARS exhibition booklet
pronouns: she
Ljubljana, Tallinn
"Surrounded by a crowd of spectators and followed by a brave dog, Emma Sharp transforms a simple walk into a legendary race against patriarchal expectations, exhaustion, and time itself. The crowd grows restless, and history starts running in reverse. What are we even watching?"
The film is an animated documentary inspired by the extraordinary story of Emma Sharp, who in 1864 walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours, making circles on a Bradford meadow. What first appears as an absurd sporting event gradually unfolds as a story about performance, public spectacle, gender, and resistance. She completed the walk wearing a red-and-black checked men's outfit and carried pistols for protection after repeated attempts to sabotage her challenge.
Research for the project included archival work, meetings with Emma's descendants, and conversations with the Bradford Buddies, an LGBTQ+ football team, about women in sport and the ways gender continues to shape athletic experience...
Emma Sharp was witty, stubborn, and always one step ahead of everyone around her. More than 160 years later, she still is.
I am using window paint, fabric, and a miniature landscape as materials for the project. All of it is in stop motion. I am using field recordings and a song by a local choir for sound.