Check out Kesiah Manival’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kesiah Manival.

Kesiah, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m from France originally but spent most of my early childhood in Holland before moving to Portland, Oregon. I’ve always been super drawn to storytelling, and experimented with all the ways I could, by making storybooks when I was a kid, and then some really badly drawn comic books by the time I got to middle school. I think it’s when I figured out that I could use cameras to tell stories that something started to make sense. I painted a lot as well, but I think deep down I was still super attached to these older French and Dutch cartoons they would show on the children’s channel like “Oui-Oui” and “Babar the Elephant”. So, I started building puppets and miniature sets out of whatever I could get my hands on, surrounding myself with these little handmade worlds, and now here I am years later still keeping myself busy in the same way I did as when I was eight years old.

I made films with my really close friends for a bit during high school as well and spent two years cooped up in a garage with them throughout all of winter and summer making this really ambitious stop motion film for school. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing or getting ourselves into and the end result was maybe a little questionable, but to this day it’s still one of the most fun things I’ve ever worked on and what ultimately led me to apply to CalArts. I’m now in my last year there, finishing up my BFA in Experimental Animation and knees deep in production on my thesis film ” With Love, Escargot.”

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I make films! Mostly animated films, but I’ve also worked on live-action, and when I’m not doing that, I like going back to painting.

What I’ve been playing around with the most lately in my work is taking big scary thoughts and feelings, like the kind that make our stomachs hurt, and turning them into something a little softer and kinder, whatever that might be. That’s why I think a lot of the work I make can sometimes feel a little bit uncomfortable, or like something’s *off*. Still, I try my best to always keep things appealing and approachable somehow. I have a really bad habit of dismissing my emotions or things that feel like very small problems in the larger scale of everything happening around us, so I like making work that confronts that because I think the smallest things that might make us feel bad can ripple and turn into much larger issues. I don’t think we can ever really take on bigger issues when we don’t feel at least somewhat at ease with ourselves first.

If there’s something weighing heavy on me, I make a movie. It’s like a very, very long therapy session with myself over the course of however many months it takes for me to make it and by the end, I just hope someone else might be able to gain some kind of comfort from it as well.

My thesis that I mentioned earlier “With Love, Escargot”, is a story that deals with a conflict between two friends living in this small beach town and how something small between two people can manifest into something bigger than themselves. It’s a bit surrealist, so in this case, the ocean mimics their growing frustrations as they avoid one another, leading to this crazy storm and tsunami. And the only way they can do anything about the storm is by dealing with each other first.

It’s a seven-minute stop motion film and will be released later next year.

What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Listen to critique but also trust your gut, and if your gut says that you really really want something to be done a certain way and others are questioning it, maybe it’s because they’ve never seen it done that way before. And it’s ok if it doesn’t always work out because at least you tried something and now you’ll know. And don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s good to want to push yourself to improve, but the minute it starts slowing you down and hindering your art-making, take a step back and breath a little. Personally, I’m still learning this last one, but it’s really important. Drink plenty of water. It helps so much and it’s really easy to forget to when you’re “in the zone”. Not a fan of plain water? Throw in some cucumbers and orange slices and now you’ve got… fancy spa water.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can find me and my work on Instagram @hellokesiah as well as my website kesiahmanival.com. Say hello! I’m always more than happy to answer any questions anyone may have.

As for how to support my work, I’m currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to make my thesis film possible! Every little bit of support helps tremendously, so feel free to check out the campaign below to get more information about the project!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kesiah-is-here/with-love-escargot-a-stop-motion-short-film

Contact Info:

• Website: kesiahmanival.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @hellokesiah
• Other: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kesiah-is-here/with-love-escargot-a-stop-motion-short-film

Image Credit:
Photos by Kesiah Manival

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