Ordinary Heroes

"Ordinary Heroes" explores the concepts of heroism in ordinary life. Using environmental storytelling it depicts the unseen emotional journey of growing up. The first render shows a child's room and the second one shows the same room but when the person is older.
It plays on the ideas of the “Hero’s Journey” and suggests that the most important journey of our lives is growing up.
Designed to evoke feelings of nostalgia and longing, the project aims to reflect on who we are and how we grow, how some things change while others never do, how our hopes and dreams evolve with us and how our perspective on the world shifts. Art has always been a constant in my life and this is represented here.
The original animation contains an audio narration (links found below) and was displayed within a physical installation that resembled a room within an exhibition space. It addresses issues of gender representation in stories and media – the protagonist, the unnamed “she” who lives in this room grew up with fantasy stories and wanted to be a part of them, but she also wanted to be a man when she was a child because having mostly male role models growing up made her believe that she must be a man to be a hero. As she got older she became more hopeful that she would be able to achieve her dreams while being a woman and make the life she imagined for herself a reality.
The project is heavily based on my own experiences and incorporates objects from my life recreated in 3D - furniture I used to have, my childhood drawings and bedsheets among other things.
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Full first animation video: https://youtu.be/24hudmA9MQI
Full second animation video (includes narration): https://youtu.be/kZRUrAHo9EM
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Narration text:
She always was a dreamer
Someone whose mind was both her prison and her playground
Someone whose imagination knew no bounds
She used to dream of castles and unicorns and worlds where she would set off on epic adventures
Worlds that were hers to explore
Where she could be
Anyone she wanted
A world where magic lived
Everything was possible
And she was the hero of her own story
She dreamed of having been born a man
Because in a man's world she wanted to be the savior and not the saved
The dragon slayer, the warrior, the brave adventurer
The hero of her own story
Her room was more than just a room
It was the set of her play
Her forests and her mountains and her seas
The realm of her journeys
Her hopes, her fears and her
Dreams
In it, she lived
Until between her dreams, she learned that she does not have to be a man
To be the hero of her own story
Into the word she carried her courage and her magic
And forged her dreams into a story
Her journey - a life she lives
The future yet unwritten
But knowing that she can make the world she dreams
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For more information, project collaborations and/or any questions please contact me at wolverileon@gmail.com