Project: “The Doors”
Printmaking diploma project
2022
“The Doors” is a stop-motion animated short that examines the labyrinth as a symbol of human interiority – the psychological space of choices, desire, fear, and becoming. The work draws from mythology, film history, and printmaking, connecting ancient symbols of the maze with the contemporary experience of decision-making and self-definition.
For me, the labyrinth is not only a mythological place but the pathway into the subconscious. Looking at the mythology of the Minotaur - in reality it appears not as a beast waiting at the center, but the shadow – the repressed emotions, wounds, instincts, and memories buried within the psyche. Entering the labyrinth becomes the act of entering oneself: moving through defenses and illusions, confronting internal obstacles, and reaching the most essential part of identity – the archetype. The journey is not linear but cyclical: falling, choosing, failing, learning, and choosing again.
The visual world of “The Doors” reflects this psychological movement through shifting corridors, passages, and countless doors that open into possibility, uncertainty, or transformation. The protagonist remains deliberately undefined – without fixed form, gender, or identity – enabling them to act as a universal figure, a mirror for the viewer’s own inner journey.
Technique
The work is created through an experimental combination of traditional printmaking and film. Each frame is made by hand using classical relief and intaglio methods, including drawing, cardboard engraving, drypoint, etching, and especially monotype. These images are then digitized and sequenced using stop-motion animation techniques.
This approach grows out of film and art history, inspired by early works of David Lynch, William Kentridge, and 1970s Eastern European experimental animation. The project aims to demonstrate that printmaking can transcend its usual static form and function as a cinematic language – capable of movement, rhythm, and narrative. In this way, the work unites the archival, tactile presence of traditional printing with the temporal flow of moving image.
Ultimately, “The Doors” suggests that life itself is a labyrinth, a biggest lifetime journey into oneself: a system of choices and the unveiling layers of subconscious that shapes who we become. Each door hides fear, opportunity, or change. Each choice is a step inward. To navigate the maze is to encounter the self.
Editing by: Barbora Jamantaite
Soundtrack by: Rapolas Radzevicius and Barbora Jamantaite