Tale of the Mammoth Goddess
2023
animation short
8 min
written, directed, filmed, animated, edited by Wendi Yan
music by Bang Klang (AP Bergeron & Leander Knust)
animation short
8 min
written, directed, filmed, animated, edited by Wendi Yan
music by Bang Klang (AP Bergeron & Leander Knust)
Tale of the Mammoth Goddess tells the story of a resurrected mammoth who escaped from the Pleistocene Park and hides in a coal mine to prepare for her natural death. She sorts through her feelings about her identity, humans, and her relationship with time.
Using game engine and AI generated voiceover, Wendi Yan created a narrative animation that exposes the complex entanglement between mammoths and humans, drawing out a broad historical arc about extinction thinking. Yan imagines a mammoth that was resurrected with human’s frontier biotechnology to save the tundra ecosystem, but who escapes duty imposed on her to live a life she wants for herself: one in which she dies naturally amidst memories of her ancestors.
Using game engine and AI generated voiceover, Wendi Yan created a narrative animation that exposes the complex entanglement between mammoths and humans, drawing out a broad historical arc about extinction thinking. Yan imagines a mammoth that was resurrected with human’s frontier biotechnology to save the tundra ecosystem, but who escapes duty imposed on her to live a life she wants for herself: one in which she dies naturally amidst memories of her ancestors.
