Passage III

Sandscape Stories

[1]

In her sand animation performances, artist Ilana Yahav tells stories through a series of images she creates by operating a layer of sand on a glass surface. She works on a glass tabletop that's brightly lit from underneath, the scenes she forms projected onto a large screen in real time.[A] Viewers must watch closely because each story Yahav tells cascades by in images that last just a second or two.

[2]

To tell a story, Yahav clears sand from the center of the glass. As she shapes the sand around the edges of this space, silhouettes of images, such as the outline of a face, appear. She pinches sand onto the glass to"draw" facial features, and other, small objects. When she wants to create less-defined images, such as a grove of trees or a snowfall, she dusts sand onto the glass with light shakes of her hand. [B] Yahav's hands move fluidly; not pausing while a story is being told.

[3]

Scenes during Yahav's four-minute story "You've Got a Friend " illustrates many of her techniques. Using just the side of her hand, Yahav transforms the image of an orange resting in an open palm to that of the face of a young woman, her head resting on her forearm.[C] Facial features, along with a teardrop near one eye, appear when Yahav pinches bits of sand into place on the face of a young woman. A steady sweep of Yahav's hand, then outlining the silhouette of a second female face on the right-hand edge of the glass. Next, Yahav uses smooth, winding motions with four fingers to great effect, transforming the first woman‘s limp hair into curls. With one swipe of her index finger, Yahav smudges out the woman's tear. Still, she flicks both hands to add at once flowers to the woman’s hair.

[4]

[D] Yahav plans and memorizes every frame of her stories, outlining the scenes on a storyboard similar to the kind filmmakers use.(44)As she explains, "I use only my hands, my fingers, and my soul."