06. Swimmingly

(2022)

An animation I created during my time as a semester exchange student at Kookmin University in Seoul.

This piece aims to represent my experience as an exchange student, transitioning from the familiar scenery of Melbourne, Australia to the unknown streets of Seoul, South Korea. Basing off of the idiom ‘small fish in a big pond’ the work takes it literally visually, displaying a transition from Melbourne to Seoul scenes at the halfway mark. I had felt like a big fish in a small pond in Melbourne because although it’s a big city, I had grown up there, knew a lot of people and was very familiar with my environment; whilst in Seoul I became a small fish in a big pond with an unfamiliar environment and new people. However ultimately, that’s just life, and change is meant to be experienced and explored.

This work is titled 'Swimmingly', meaning smoothly, effortlessly and satisfactorily: how I'm just trying to keep up with life.

Music: Easy Lovers by Piero Piccioni