(god’s mouth)
Created By
David Dowd
Artist Statement
There’s a collective dread towards the future for many people. I feel it too. I wanted to explore that dread differently. There’s the breaking point, but also the aftermath. Our anxieties tend to stop at the collapse, but what of those forced to rebuild? How will our work here shape the lives of those who come long after we are ancient history?
Credits
Video and Animation
David Dowd
(Where I stand)
The lives I’m most surrounded by are black and I like that to reflect in my work. I’m in Chicago but the story is larger than that. Most of us will not live to see what comes of our actions. I want to acknowledge those who’ll inherit the consequences.
Artist Bios
David Dowd is a life long story teller and self taught animator who has been practicing the craft for over 3 years. Though trained in theatre arts and no stranger to performance “God’s Mouth” is his theatrical debut in animation. He’s grateful to walkabout* for the opportunity to showcase his work and to parents Joan & Donald Dowd for their overwhelming support. Special Thanks to Katrina Miller without whom this would not have been possible. And a final thank you to all who take the time to see. You can find David’s other work on Instagram @Sockhead_the_raptor. Bless.
The Thief and the Hole
One day, the thief once again on the journey between A Problem to Some Trouble, saw a small child sitting at the brim of a massive hole with a bottom that the thief couldn’t see. The thief had already taken from a child today and began to turn away just as the child dropped a well-cut amethyst and an unwashed potato into the hole, hummed a tune to follow them down. The thief watched the amethyst tumble and sparkle down into darkness, then noticed from his hiding place – by this point, he had tucked behind a rock – the larger procession of people approaching the hole from all sides, all of them dropping shimmers and glitters into the basin, all of them murmuring notes into the air.
The thief, furious and delighted with greed, shrieked and ran past the pilgrims and jumped into the pit, hoping to collect the gemstones from the bottom. And so the thief fell and spun in the deep darkness for what felt like many, many hours where there was nothing to see when he heard a voice from the shadow. Are you safe? said the voice, sounding like honey and sandalwood, Or did you mean to offer yourself?
“I’m fine!” shouted the thief. “And you should be so lucky to have me on offer! I came to take the gems that were being thrown into this dirty hole.” And upon that, the darkness ended and the thief felt his body slam into dry dirt. He looked up to see the cloaked bodies of the pilgrims dropping vegetables and jewels. Take what you need.
And so he took fistfuls and fistfuls of the jewels. And the thief stopped by the hole on every journey between A Problem and Some Trouble, always taking a handful of rubies and sapphires while ignoring the fruits and the greens (with the exception of emeralds) that littered the cracked dirt, dropping his bits: dead birds, empty bags of chips, old barrels of oil or blood, a great deal of torn envelopes. “Here, my friend,” he’d say, “a gift!” And everytime, the hole would simply offer a thanks in reply. This went on until one day, when he passed the hole and it wheezed and moaned and said, I’m quite nauseous today! Please, no more gifts..
But the thief didn’t know when he’d next see a garbage can or dumpster and he had to throw out a tape recorder so he – well… ah.
At this point, things get hazy about what exactly happens. My sources have said many things: sometimes, the thief throws the tape recorder in and the hole vomits up all its contents across the rest of the earth, crushing the thief. In other versions, the thief abides by the hole’s request and begins spreading his garbage across the rest of the world, leaving the hole to ponder and recover.
All I know for sure is this: nowadays, the thief is still thieving and the hole still gapes in the earth but now there is trash and shit everywhere. If you ask the hole about the thief or vice-versa, you’ll find their responses ungenerous.