I am Sophia Wolfe, a Southern Californian interdisciplinary filmmaker and artist. I am studying with University of Southern California’s MFA Cinematic Arts program, Expanded Animation: Research + Practice, a program which emphasizes the interconnectivity of materiality, dreams, and sentience with animation. Through this, I work under the Hanson Robotics “Sentience Quest” team, taking a small part in enhancing the ever-evolving humanoid robot, Sophia the Robot. I have had the surreal opportunity to assist in developing her character by serving as the reference for her mannerisms and reactions, and collaborate directly with her on creative works (see here).
My work is metaphysical and self-referential, inspired by the geometry and structures of our internal and external reality and the reflexive history of animation. Process and material become tools for researching. I gravitate toward stop-motion which reveals the characteristics of time, movement, and organic geometry. In parallel, I engage in dream rituals. By documenting and interpreting my subconscious, I gain a unique view on how fantasies and dreams blend with waking life. I collaborate with scientists across disciplines, including those researching mathematics, quantum physics, and robotics.
It is my firm belief that one cannot fully understand a subject unless they view it through loving eyes. Naturally, I write love stories. Not only between characters, but between ideas, between bodies and space, between science and art. I personify these abstract relationships, collaborating with plants and land, treating my craft as a lover rather than an object of control. The intimacy of this engagement is embedded in my work through the remanence of my person: the texture of my fingerprints, the imperfect stroke of graphite, the shadow I cast upon the subject. One cannot experience my work without sensing the presence of the artist who made it.