Ciaran Short

Soul Search
2022
Original Animation and Second Life Computer

Soul Search is a single channel video piece utilizing the format of an experimental documentary to explore concepts of memory, death and mourning, specifically in relation to blackness. The video focuses on the murder of the artist’s cousin, Donovan Brown, who was killed by gun violence four years ago at the age of 24 years old. Archival footage, screen recordings, original animations, and 3D renderings are amongst the mediums utilized in the weaving together of the story following Donovan’s life and death. With the sharing and visual consumption of black death being commonplace in popular media, this piece aims to examine our digital relationship to life and death through the lens of journalism and social media posts. Not only does the video investigate the subject’s life and untimely death, but also depicts and interrogates the possibility of a digital afterlife or a revised present that transcends the bounds of reality.