For this blog’s title, and as a theme for this semester’s series of exercises I decided to follow the Portuguese expression “É como dar pérolas a porcos”, which translates to “It’s like giving pearls to pigs”, or as I believe you more commonly say “like casting my pearls before the swine”. In other words, it refers to when we offer a gift to someone who can’t value it for what it truly is.

For the Unit 1 assignments I wanted to experiment with different animation techniques but maintain a subversive message throughout. As a queer gender non-confirming person, I have grown to love my femininity in my male body, and I believe that it gave me an amazing armor to navigate this world. Unfortunately, feminine men, masculine women and androgynous characters have often been portrayed as deceiving, foreign, blasphemous and very rarely have been given center-stage – when that’s where we shine the brightest. Gender-queer people have existed throughout all our history – there was a even a Roman emperor called Heliogabalus – and in several societies we were given the caregiver, healer or educator role. However, most of the documentation of our own existence has been erased through colonization and religious wars. As an animator, and more importantly as an artist, it’s my responsibility to carry that legacy with me and through the work that I do.

For the first assignment, the “Bouncing Creature”, I created “Piglet with Pearls”. I decided to literally “personify” the expression itself and animated a bouncing piglet decorated with pearl earrings and necklace. I though it would be interesting to use the jewelry to create a follow-through effect. There is something endearing, and quite relatable I must admit, about designing an animal that is usually associated with dirt and sloth, bouncing happily bedazzled in jewels.