Hyvästi, varjoinen / Farväl, beskuggade / Goodbye Shadowy, 2012-13.

Kas, tuol on pilvi loistava,
ihana, kaunoinen;
jo lähti pois pakenemaan -
hyvästi, varjoinen.
Där kom en sky, den log så röd,
Som rosenknoppen ler.
Farväl! Hur snart farväl den bjöd,
För att ej komma mer.
See there a lovely cloud, I say,
resplendent, beautiful!
It flees already far away –
farewell, dear cloud, farewell!

Runosta / en del av dikten / from the poem: Johan Ludvig Runeberg: Lähteellä / Vid en källa / By the Fountain (1879).
Suom. Elias Lönnrot, transl. by Paul Sjöblom. Known also as song composed by Fredrik A. Ehrström.

Vappu Rossi: Hyvästi, varjoinen / Farväl, beskuggade / Goodbye Shadowy, 2012-13.

Installation loop 00:01:42 / Single channel 00:01:58, stereo.
Still & installation photos on the Distribution Center of Finnish Media Art, AV-Arkki

Goodbye Shadowy combines stop motion and time lapse animation. In the pale light of February you can see the shadow of a living and evolving animal mobile. As the light moves, the development and growth of different animals can be seen. The wistful but humorous film shows the passage of light during the day, from dusk till dawn.

Vappu Rossi: Goodbye Shadowy

Thoughts about the miracle of chance, life cycle and the inevitable passage of time are in the background of Goodbye Shadowy. I wanted the work to be wistful and contemplative, maybe a bit spooky, but after the ending twist slightly humorous by its undertone.

Goodbye Shadowy is a combination of stop motion animation and time lapse interval shootings. The ground material is still photo serie of sunlight reflection casting from the window, passaging during the day, from dusk till dawn. In addition, I shooted some separate films for study the acting of shadows in the changing light, as the movements of mobile seen in the final work. I created the figures on the ground material frame by frame to get the impression of raw time-laps film and genuine, natural shadows that suddenly become alive. The sound design with all the quacking, barking and music box clinking was planned already before shootings. The chords of humming wind I sung tone by tone with blowing voice.

The development of embryos, excluding the end of course, is drawn after scientific images. The similarity of different animal fetuses works as dramaturcig element: in the beginning it’s impossible to distinguish the animals.

The work is about fugitivity and short happy floundering of organisms in the amazing stream of time. The motion of casting light and the life cycle of the changing mobile can also be like throwbacks of early perceptions of child. The sunlight reflection, though being easily recognizable everyday phenomenon, is casting from the optimal angle in the shooting location only in February, as the sun rises from right direction. For foregoing reason the time schedule of planning, arranging and implementation of Goodbye Shadowy was quite long, almost three years.

Goodbye Shadowy is available also as installation version. Vertical image version is installed in the way that the passage of light trough space is as natural as possible.

Thanks to:
The Finnish Cultural Foundation
The Arts Council of Finland
Film sound company Humina

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