Sofi Hailu

The Sonic Desert

“Why are we here?” It’s a question that comes up often and can never be fully answered. The journey that all humans must take on earth intrigues me. We appear on this world, without asking to be in it, and then we are left to figure out how to spend our lives. Through animation, I want to explore my own journey of exploring these unanswered questions by animating the mundane experiences of a girl living in a desert landscape.

Not much can survive in the desert, and if you spend enough time in the intense temperatures it can play tricks on you. The desert is a mystical place. Through placing this character in a desert, seemingly unbothered by the location, her experiences feel surreal. This animation channels my own experience in this world. With my head in the clouds all my life, many of my experiences felt surreal. I have constantly wondered why I exist and what my future holds. When I see this character alone in the desert, I wonder why they are there, and where are they going.

One way that I have been able to navigate my journey is by listening to music. My earliest memories of falling in love with music was through movies. Composers like Hans Zimmer and Ludivico Enaudi had this gift of driving the movie through music. The emotions were all enhanced because of the soundtrack. I was exposed to the possibility of creating music when my brother would play guitar or piano in the house every night. Albums and playlists get me through good times and hard times and changes the way I see the world. I have my own personal life soundtrack right in my earbuds everywhere I go.

Through this body of work, I want to show how impactful sound is to visuals. Music in particular channels directly to human emotion and embodies the natural rhythms of the earth. It does not answer why we are here, but every song is a sonic translation of the artists’ experience. Listening to other’s emotions and experiences, help us navigate our own. Music changed how I saw the world, and it completely transforms the emotions you experience when watching this animation. The music starts to shape the environment and lets the viewer to have an insight on how the character is feeling. Through different scenes of her walking, trying to sleep, meeting a butterfly the sounds change. Sound shapes the world, in the way that sound has changed my world. The lingering feeling of isolation, pensiveness, and a little bit of magic that I have etched into this piece reflects my experience. This work of art is just the beginning of a journey where I am trying to navigate unanswered questions within the human experience.

Visit Sofi’s personal site here.

Check out Sofi’s work below! Best experienced with headphones.

Walking, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels

Can’t Sleep, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels

Passing Time, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels

Flutter, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels

Dawn of the Dunes, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels

Sonic Desert, April 2019, hand-drawn and vector-based flash animation, 1280 x 720 pixels