corrie francis parks crafts dream-like, stop motion world of 'foreign exchange'

corrie francis parks uses a collection of sand and currency from across the world to create her dream-like short film dubbed ‘foreign exchange.’ the ever-evolving universe is crafted from grains of sand collected from across 50 countries, which plays in dialogue with a transforming landscape of banknotes. the resulting stop-motion short suggest a dynamic blend of cultures, noting historic figures alongside geographic motifs. parks comments: ‘between the dazzling layers of currency and sand lie connections that can be mined in infinite ways. each person who views this film will unearth different associations filtered through their worldly experience and national background.’

images from ‘foreign exchange,’ corrie francis parks

with the short film ‘foreign exchange,’ artist corrie francis parks continues her long-time exploration of sand as a medium — for the first time at a microscopic scale. here, the viewer can realize the individuality of each tiny stone. to create the animation, each grain was meticulously organized atop a light table with toothpicks and tweezers, with each alteration captured with a high resolution photograph. at such a small scale, the most subtle shifts are magnified to produce a rippling effect. the artist comments: ‘when I pull an individual grain of sand out of a pile and animate it, i see its dimensionality. it becomes a luminous being next to a hundred more luminous beings, finding its own direction in a world of miniature worlds.’

like the collection of sand, the currencies in ‘foreign exchange’ are collaged to highlight their unique motifs, corrie francis parks comments: ‘through the filter of my own limited perspective, I found national stories connecting and overlapping in unexpected ways. canada’s interstellar pride meshes with the gothic arches of prague’s st. salvator’s church. portugal’s colonial conquests intertwine with a singapore’s nostalgic market economy. india’s signature animals wallow beneath a chinese waterfall.’

Micro studio documentation from Corrie Francis Parks on Vimeo.