Artist Statement

"Mermoriz", is a 2D single-channel animation and a semi symbolic story about a girl who is dealing with the loss of her father. The main themes present in my work are; the notions of what happens after death, how the word “self” is limited and what happens around a person’s loved ones after they die. While dealing with her emotions after her father's passing, the main character seeks reconnection with him through the boat they created fond memories on and finds out he continues to exist through her memories and the objects he touched. “Memoriz” is an incorporation of the words “memories” and the Turkish word “iz”, which means “trace”. Using my typical cartoony style with a black and white colour palette, “Memoriz” is an animation where I explored my anxieties over the ambiguity of death and also a work in which I to try to regain a new perspective over mortality. The concepts and designs were inspired by both personal stories and popular media such as “Frozen 2” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”. “Memoriz” uses my perception of death to create a narrative over a girl’s effort to reconnect with her father only to find out he lives on through her memories and through the presence of the boat that they both cherished.