The Wu-Force | Paper Lanterns
CatManDew LABS has undergone many transformations over the years. It began in a humble apartment in Golfutar, Nepal, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, but now has a studio in the centre of downtown. The company has worked with clients such as the US Embassy and now Grammy award-winning artist Abigail Washburn, who is part of the collaborating team known as Wu-Force. This team worked with CatManDew LABS on "Paper Lanterns".
Karen Eng, a TED Fellow Blog writer, writes perfectly what "Paper Lanterns" is about:
“What constitutes “home” — especially when one has lived and worked “away” for years? Is it the people, the places, the fragments of memory? Two American artists — Joey Foster Ellis, who spent much of his adult life living and working in China, and clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn, who discovered her passion for traditional Appalachian music while a law student in China — have joined forces to explore their experiences of being a stranger in a familiar land in a stunning new multilayered stop-motion video for “Paper Lanterns” — a song by Washburn’s avant-garde Appalachian-Chinese folk trio Wu Force.”
The article by Eng highlights the creative partnership between two American artists, Joey Foster Ellis and Abigail Washburn, who teamed up to produce an emotive stop-motion video for the song "Paper Lanterns" by Washburn's band, Wu-Force. The video explores the concept of home and the longing to return to it, even when it is no longer familiar. It captures the feeling of being a stranger in a familiar land and the hopelessness of not being able to return to a place that one has left behind.
The collaboration was an international effort, with Ellis and Washburn living in Nepal and Memphis, respectively. The video was created using a mix of stop-motion, film, and GIFs and features images from both American and Chinese cultures. Ellis and Washburn's shared experience of leaving their home country for China at a young age and carving out a new life there was a key factor in the collaboration's success.
In an interview, Washburn explains that the song "Paper Lanterns" is about the longing to be back with the people you love deeply, to float like a paper lantern back to the place you came from. She describes the feeling of being far away and even feeling like a foreigner in a place you once called home, yet holding out hope that you'll find your way back. Ellis shares his interpretation of the song, describing it as a celebration of the compilation of memories that make up "home", which reside within us and travel wherever we go.
The article provides insight into the collaboration process between the two artists, including how they connected initially and the challenges they faced during the making of the video. Ellis had complete autonomy to create a video that spoke the message of the song in a way outside of Wu-Force's intent while still staying true to their message of longing. The video was made using a heavy dose of stop-motion overlaid with a mix of both film and GIFs. Ellis filmed some scenes in Jingdezhen, China, and then took everything back to his animation studio in Nepal to complete the video.
Overall, the article is an interesting read for those interested in the creative process and how artists can unite to create meaningful art that transcends boundaries. It highlights the importance of collaboration, cultural exchange, and the power of art to communicate universal emotions.
Read "Meet the hearts and brains behind a new magical stop-motion video about longing to go home—when you’re not sure where home is anymore" by Karen Eng on the TED Fellows Blog
““Paper Lanterns,” from Wu-Force’s self-titled debut EP, is a song of exile and exquisite longing. The lyrics, in both English and Mandarin, give voice to a young female worker who’s had to leave her small town for the big city. She knows her dream of returning will likely not come true, yet she hangs on to hope, and finds strength in even the thought of her beloved sister. Within its musical swirl of Appalachian, Chinese classical and pop sounds, the song borrows a motif, a riff, from the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind” – the perfect reference point for the psychic displacement of the song’s narrator.”
Artists who worked on this video:
Joey Foster Ellis
Sunil Shrestha
Pooja Bajracharya
Sandhya Karki
Nive Das
Oscar Arzate
Scene One (Remittance Culture)
Scene Two (The Return Home)
Scene 3 (The Journey)
