We will watch over you

We will watch over you is an animation drawing from paper cutting traditions of ethnic folk groups of the North West region of China and mythical symbols sonorous with the Spring Festival. The paper cut style is described as bold, simple shapes, roughly exaggerated in form. In the work, the figure of an Immortal wearing a hog’s head wanders through a traditional building warding off evil and evoking spirits. He is guided by the symbols of yin and yang in the form of the bird and lotus flower. He is watching and is watched. The paper cut motifs form a window from which the real world is viewed. The paper cut frame opens up into real time footage, coloured in sepia, of airports and street scenes. These scenes are overlaid with animated characters monitoring movements and adding numerical values to actions. The original soundscape uses the er hu and Beijing opera sampling to create a traditional but other worldly atmosphere that builds to unease through the repeated clashing of cymbals and gongs.