As if! A whimsigoth teenage witch from the mind of animator Bree O'Donnell is taking the internet by storm

"Since 2022 the Brooklyn-based filmmaker and animator Bree O'Donnell has been creating short clips of Mary, a teenage witch from the fictional town of Portsmith. With an ever-increasing fanbase across Bree's Instagram and TikTok channels, Bree tells us that Mary's inspiration is close to home. "She's is inspired by all the girls that I hung out with in suburbia, girls who were powerful, girls who dreamed, girls who I wanted to be with," shares Bree."

"Often lit in deep purples and greens, Bree blends a fantastical, sci-fi inspired colour palette with a mysterious visual narrative, depicting Mary - quite like your average teenager - looking rather pensive while making her way across various spots around her fictional hometown. Made in short-form with no captions and no dialogue offering even a sliver of information, these snippets leave the audience wanted to find out more about Mary's lore."

"It's often Mary's hair that the eye is drawn to, especially as Black hair has long been a topic grappled with, often lagging behind advancements in computer graphics. In the portrayal of Black characters, formulas to depict textures often stick to culturally approved styles like the Killmonger locs. Bree adds to the growing variety of styles in the 3D space. She says: "similarly to Mary's personal style, this specific animation really pushes the box of our practice and animation aesthetics.""

Bree O'Donnell, a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and animator, has created short clips of Mary, a teenage witch from fictional Portsmith, since 2022. The animations use deep purples and greens and a fantastical, sci‑fi colored palette to render Mary moving through pensive suburban spaces. The clips are short-form, silent, and captionless, inviting viewers to imagine Mary's lore. One TikTok set to Poison Girl Friends' 1992 track Hardly Ever Smile has nearly one million likes, featuring Mary hurtling through a dreamscape with wind in her glittering hair. Bree foregrounds diverse Black hair textures in 3D while exploring longing, desire, and suburban female power.

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