What is prison for? Touted as both a means of punishment and correction, the U.S. carceral system rarely succeeds at the latter. According to the Department of Justice, more than 650,000 people are released from prison annually, with two-thirds being arrested again within three years. Rehabilitation is the purported justification for locking away more of our residents than most other nations, but clearly, the punitive system seldom accomplishes this goal.

A new film by writer Marvin Wade and animator Evan Bode juxtaposes the counterproductive forces of the carceral system with the programs, resources, and true determination that make change possible. Presented by The New York Times‘ Opinion section, “Prison and Time” details Wade’s experience while incarcerated and how, despite the system’s rules and the whims of correctional officers, he was able to obtain his GED, learn to facilitate conflict resolution, and discover his love for writing. Time, for Wade, was the critical support he needed to gain perspective, while the system he found himself ensnared by focused on dehumanization and retribution.

For his part, Bode animated a dark, dizzying visualization that evokes the bleak and claustrophobic conditions of a prison cell and the lives it both conceals and actively thwarts. The scenes rendered in watercolor and marker appear as blips within the larger narrative, an apt material metaphor that moves the viewer throughout the film like a ticking clock. A making-of video highlights this painstaking process.

Bode and Wade met through Project Mend, a journal featuring the work of creatives impacted by the carceral system published through Syracuse University. “Mend is a very small, tight-knit group doing extraordinary things with a lot of love,” Bode says. “Last year, [the project’s founder] Patrick W. Berry presented me with some texts published in Mend for me to consider animating, one of which was Marvin Wade’s brilliant essay, ‘Time and Prison: Are They Mutually Exclusive?‘”

The two teamed up, with Wade narrating and Bode animating. Together, they create a captivating portal into Wade’s life at a particularly vulnerable and transformative time. “I believe the purpose of an artist is to move the crowd,” he writes about the film. “And my hope is that everyone watching our film will be moved in some way.”

Project Mend has tapped Bode for further collaborations, including an animated film paired with the poem “Man Skin Boy Mask” by José Angel Perez. Keep an eye out for its release on Vimeo.

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The Colombian artist Delcy Morelos describes her hometown of Tierralta as “a paradise full of butterflies and unpaved streets.” In the late 1960s and early ’70s, Morelos spent her days in her grandmother’s garden, running barefoot and gleaning what it meant to live in connection with the land. When paramilitary and guerrilla troops moved in, though, the region was plunged into a chaotic state of grief and fear.

In her earliest works, Morelos translated the death and destruction plaguing her home into two-dimensional compositions. As she details in a new segment for Art21, acrylic painting was not long her primary mode of working, and quickly, she returned to the earth, incorporating soil, straw, and grass into large-scale installations. The film follows the artist as she installs a sepulchral mound in Seville’s Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, a former Carthusian monastery turned art museum that once housed Christopher Columbus’ remains.

Throughout the film, we witness Morelos grab gobs of straw-laden soil and affix the chunky material to a standing structure, which eventually grows a range of produce native to both sides of the Atlantic. In contrast to the space’s colonial ties, the artist’s work presents a way of creating and living that’s entwined in natural rhythms. Visitors are greeted by notes of cinnamon, cloves, and fecund soil before being enveloped by towering walls of growth. Within the vaulted monastery, Morelos’ indomitable forms offer a direct tie to the sacred and divine right beneath our feet.

“Many people believe they are in a bubble, and that is why they can do things that harm nature, harm others, and also harm themselves,” she says, demonstrating a profound sense of care for and connection to all that gives life.

This segment is part of Art21’s Human Nature episode and is available to watch on its site. Find additional films on YouTube.

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How many people actually heed the warnings about not feeding ducks waddling around public parks? If you’ve taken a flippant approach to these guidelines in the past, we recommend you watch AJ Jeffries’ new animation, “DUCKS.” What opens as an innocuous jaunt around a pond quickly turns into a dark comedy full of strange contortions and feathered villains sure to pop into your head the next time you throw a chunk of bread.

Jeffries is also behind this ridiculous story of a struggling horse, and you can find more of his work on Instagram, Vimeo, or Behance.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Don’t Feed the Ducks! A Zany Animation Predicts the Absurd Outcomes of Ignoring the Rules appeared first on Colossal.

When we think of “invasive species,” perhaps zebra mussels or kudzu vine spring to mind. Both have flourished in their non-native environments and continue to threaten other native organisms. Invasive species aren’t inherently bad—they’re just trying to survive—but by definition, they’re likely to disrupt local ecosystems and even cause billions of dollars worth of damage each year. So, what does one California city have to say about its burgeoning population of… peacocks?

Introduced by a businessman and land baron named Elias Lucky Baldwin more than a century ago, the avian population has long called the area home. Over the years, though, as the originally open area filled with homes and commercial strips, efforts by local residents end up at odds, as some would like to protect the birds and others would prefer to see them sent away altogether. In a short film titled “Our Neighbors, the Peacocks,” filmmaker Callie Barlow traces the unusual history of peafowl in Los Angeles County through the eyes of some of its current residents.

Arcadia, California, sits in the San Gabriel Valley about 45 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. Dozens of peacocks, which are carefully watched over by some and detested by others, meander through residents’ yards, traipse around on rooftops, peck at cars, call from trees, and of course, display their beautiful feathers—especially during mating season.

In her short documentary, Barlow invites locals to share their love—or loathing—for the vibrant birds as she highlights how Arcadia’s history of protecting the birds has perhaps led to something of an overpopulation problem. Nearby neighborhoods participate in relocation programs, while Arcadia’s birds are protected, and opinions about how to deal with growing numbers land all along the spectrum.

“‘Our Neighbors, the Peacocks’ resists the urge to resolve the tension it so clearly lays out,” says Jason Sondhi, who selected the film for Short of the Week. “Instead, it leans into a modest but resonant idea articulated by its director that living alongside these animals might require ‘putting aside your own discomforts to find a deeper meaning in nature.'”

See the film on YouTube.

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“Wind carries away destinies,” reads the brief synopsis for a short film titled “Jour de Vent,” or “Windy Day.” The sweeping animation was created in 2024 by a team of six graduates—Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Élise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding—from École des Nouvelle Images school in Avignon, France.

A cast of characters—including a businessman, a picnicking family, a young couple, a cyclist, an old man and his dog, and a guitarist—spend a seemingly average day at the park. When a powerful gust of wind blows everyone’s day out of proportion, themes of change, acceptance, and connection emerge.

Much like the film’s surrender to the flow of life, the team embraced natural evolvement through the production process itself. “Interestingly enough, the story kept changing until the last day,” the graduates share in an interview with Animation Magazine. “The final shot was decided only three days before the end.”

“Jour de Vent” has won a multitude of awards, including Jury’s Choice Award at the 2025 SIGGRAPH Festival and Best International Short Film at Quickdraw Animation Society, among many more. Watch it now on Vimeo.

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“We live with so many hard things,” says Sheila Hicks, “that we’re crying for softness.” The pleasure, simplicity, and tactile qualities of textiles ground a new film from Louisiana Channel, which explores the ways in which fiber art remains both evocative and relevant in this increasingly digital era.

“7 Artists on Soft Sculptures” weaves together a variety of distinct approaches to textiles. Nick Cave describes incorporating found plastics, toys, metals, fringe, and more into elaborate suits that mask the wearer’s identity, while Icelandic artist Shoplifter shares her obsessions with brightly dyed synthetic hair, which she transforms into immersive installations.

And Kaarina Kaikkonen offers her deeply personal reason for incorporating used clothing into her large-scale installations: “When I was 14, after my father’s death, I wanted to wear his clothes,” she says. “I felt very strongly that my father is near me if I wear his clothes.” This invisible presence continues to inform her work, offering a connection to people and times passed.

Louisiana Channel hosts a trove of videos featuring artists, writers, and designers, including earlier studio visits with Shiota and Shoplifter, on Vimeo.

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In a distraction-free “dream lab,” Zendaya has carte blanche to create a new wardrobe in a short, stop-motion film written and directed by Spike Jonze. The advertisement, which announces a clothing line the actor co-created with apparel brand On, merges dance and playful optics as she maneuvers through some otherworldly trial and error.

You might also enjoy Jonze’s mind-melting dance video for Apple featuring FKA twigs.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Zendaya Taps into the Creative Process in a Quirky Ad Directed by Spike Jonze appeared first on Colossal.