Lysander Wong's surreal shorts breathe life and action into wool, thread and crumpled paper

"The Hong Kong born and London-based artist Lysander Wong 's inventive paper cut-out films, which merge mixed-media techniques with charming animations, may appear like they're set in an alternative universe, but Lysander's core focus is set firmly on how individuals take up space on Earth. Through the lens of Lysander's trans and queer experiences, themes of fragility, tension and humanity are playfully tackled between the visual and physical, with paper standing in as the ultimate metaphor of the flimsiness of bodies."

"His first film OverThreaded (shown at London International Animation Festival 2024) takes the world of fibre art, textiles and our relationships to tactile materials to imaginative heights. A main character (of sorts) is established through a sewing needle, which multiplies and flies across the screen before the film becomes densely populated with knit, nets, mesh, bits and bobs, all teeming and socialising like microscopic lifeforms."

"There's an incredible sense of giving life to the inanimate in Lysander's work. In his film Foreign Bodies, which he animated on a multi-plane set up, every element of the animation feels distinct due to the casting of its shadows, giving the film an unique third dimension despite appearing 2D. Described as a short about "the horror of having a body", the existential dread of existing materially is no better captured than through the analogue - the crumpling of paper communicates the decay of skin."

Lysander Wong, Hong Kong-born and London-based, creates paper cut-out films that blend mixed-media techniques with charming animation to examine how individuals occupy Earth. The films channel trans and queer experiences to probe fragility, tension, and humanity, with paper serving as a metaphor for bodily flimsiness. OverThreaded employs fibre art and textiles, animating sewing needles, knit, nets and mesh into densely populated, social microscopic lifeforms and animated credits filled with textile tools. Foreign Bodies uses a multi-plane setup and shadow casting to give depth; crumpled paper, stitched string, and painted action lines convey corporeal decay, injury, and existential dread.

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