ARTIST STATEMENT

CECIL L. EIJGENDAAL

The start of my artistic development goes hand in hand with both my own self-discovery and the desire to share these new and unknown feelings with others, as to create an emotional bridge. There are a variety of facets I have categorized within this exploration and how I have wanted to incorporate them into my work. These facets are identity, connections to others. Thus, I would like to lay out how this factors into my work and touches the world out there, and where I would like to take it in the future through study and work.

I want to create work that makes people connect to me or themselves. Ever since I was young, I felt that animation was the medium to do this in. I never felt seen by hyperrealistic gloomy PSAs on how one should treat depression or anxieties about the world, about that they only needed a listening ear. I did feel kinship in the almost corny displays of love and determination the anime of the season had to offer, the later more nuanced and chaotic depictions of trauma within Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, and Steven Universe’s queer and diverse cast. In my teen years a lot of it was escape but nowadays, I am endeared to animation because the medium can depict anything if one simply puts their mind to it. Animation can always grow and evolve, and I want to grow with it and see how others find new ways to use it. As such, I can see the field developing new ways of animating, of automating the process, and most of all, I can see the field changing in what stories are told and depicted.  I want to work with others, and hear how they view the world and their work.