HA・NA・KU・SO

Directed by Japanese filmmaker Ryo Orikasa, this animated short was inspired by Henri Michaux’s book of poetry and drawings of the same name, about his experiences with mescaline. The film explores the limits of language and perception, creating connections between sound, meaning, shapes and movement.

This work is a missive to the life form we call viruses in the hope that we can coexist. The relationship between humans and viruses is poetically expressed from a different perspective.

This work is based on 15 years of entries in the diary that I’ve kept since age eight. Through creating this work I was searching for freedom from my preconceptions about animation and myself.