Listening Intently
Animated paintings, a clay self‑figure, and a haunting vocal soundscape intertwine to explore memory, place, and the slow unearthing of the self through attentive listening to landscape and origin.
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Listening Intently to the Copse:
The gravitational pull of childhood haunts—
a landscape that shaped me most vividly
through my fractured moments.
Listening Intently to the Beck:
Eels wind ribbon-like from under the bridge
into the obscure waters of my memory
I trace them downstream.
Listening Intently to the Dale:
In the dimness and indifferent light
I offer myself to your purpose
and the child I was.
Listening Intently to the Self:
Wealletune, here I am.
Brushing soil from the earliest layers of myself, I arrive at a quiet, haunting recognition of where I began.
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Concept, artwork, and audiovisual composition by Gaynor Perry, combining animated paintings, a bandaged clay figure, and a layered vocal soundscape.
Each painting measures 30 × 30 cm and is executed in oil on board. The sculpture is made from air‑drying clay, wrapped carefully in gauze bandages, and measures 15 × 12 × 14 cm.
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Gaynor PerryDirector
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Gaynor PerryWriter
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Gaynor PerryProducer
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Gaynor PerryAuthor
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Gaynor PerryComposer
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Project Type:Animation, Experimental, Short
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Runtime:1 minute 3 seconds
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Completion Date:January 9, 2026
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:1:1
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Film Color:Black & White
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Gaynor Perry is a self‑taught, multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans film, photography, painting, and music — encompassing composition, production, and voice. Working intuitively across these forms, she creates emotionally charged audiovisual worlds that blur the boundaries between the surreal and the deeply personal.
Her films and visual works explore the psychological and symbolic terrain of human experience, weaving dreamlike atmospheres with instinctive, poetic imagery. Whether through haunting vocal compositions, evocative sound design, or mythic visual storytelling, her work invites viewers into intimate inner landscapes shaped by emotion, memory, and metaphor.
Situated at the intersection of contemporary surrealism and experimental narrative, Perry’s practice resonates with audiences seeking immersive, symbolic, and distinctly personal audiovisual expression.
Listening Intently emerges from a desire to return to the landscapes that shaped me — not as literal places, but as emotional terrains held in the body. These childhood environments form the backdrop of many of my dreams, resurfacing again and again with a clarity that feels deeper than memory. I know this landscape intimately, and I believe it imprinted itself on my budding subconscious.
Each movement of the film listens to a different fragment of that inner terrain: the copse, the beck, the dale, and finally the self. These spaces surface through animated paintings and a shifting vocal soundscape, each carrying its own tone, rhythm, and memory‑weight.
I work intuitively across painting, sculpture, sound, and film, and this piece reflects that interdisciplinary approach. The final appearance of the bandaged clay figure marks a moment of arrival — a grounding, a recognition, a quiet declaration of presence.
Everyone carries a childhood landscape inside them; my hope is that the film offers viewers a quiet doorway into the places that linger, the ones that never quite let us go.
This film is a brief meditation on how landscape imprints itself on identity, and how attentive listening can unearth the earliest layers of the self.
