What happens when the sun shines behind a vast curtain of smog? Our shadows become vaguer and when the smog becomes thicker, they may not be visible at all. With the growing air pollution, the sunlight becomes less – it is the darkening of the earth, also called “global dimming” – and we are losing our shadows.
An old Native American legend tells that an insect stole the shadow to those who did not respect nature. Deprived, in this way, of their soul, the men became ill. Only with music and singing they were able to finally get their shadow back and live happily ever after.
The motto “Give us back our shadows!” is the wish that we can clean the air, so that the sun can enlighten us again and we get our shadows back.

“Korporal Zoo” is a series of video works by Maria Korporal, which observe the animal and human world with several perspectives: cultural, social, environmental.

title: Give us back our shadows
technique: Experimental video and animation
length: 6’46”
year: 2014
music: Richard Strauss, “Also sprach Zarathustra” – Das Tanzlied (public domain – www.1classical.com)
field recording of insects: Benboncan (www.freesound.org)
all other recordings, camera work, cast, image & sound processing, animation & montage: Maria Korporal