

Ian Keteku, the Producer and Director of the series had the vision to create a series that highlighted Black voices through poetry and art, and somehow found and reached out to me with the opportunity to be a part of the experience. The short film called “I Spy” for the series “Dreams in Vantablack”, was actually my first somewhat solo project that I had gotten the opportunity to work on. I also have done a lot of hand-drawn limited-animation projects, but there are a few unreleased projects that include full animation.Ī short film you recently animated made its way into Dundas Square during black history month, what did this mean to you as an animator and as a Black woman? Since Graduating Seneca in 2020, I’ve been mostly doing 2D rigging animation with Toon Boom Harmony. Even though I started learning animation in 2017, I technically consider myself to have been doing 2D rigging animation since 2019, as there was a steep learning curve I struggled to get over, that finally “clicked” that year. In 2016 I did Art Fundamentals at Seneca, and from 2017-2020 I studied animation at Seneca, where I majored in 2D Animation. That was the final push and what inspired me to try to get into an animation course at Seneca college. My father also encouraged me to choose a career that I am good at and like. This reminded me of how I felt seeing Caiphus’s work. When it came to college applications, A classmate of mine who was applying to animation, told me about the course and encouraged me to apply.

In Canada, I did 12th Grade, and there were a variety of arts and media subjects to choose from that were never available to me in Guyana. I guess this was the first spark of interest where I thought, “That’s so cool!”. Days before I migrated to Canada, my friend Jubilante Cutting, the Founder of Guyana Animation Network, invited me to a Youth conference and introduced me to Caiphus Moore, an EA animator at the time. I studied Science at The Bishops’ High School and had intended to continue pursuing Science upon migration. What first inspired you to get into animation? Loop Caribbean recently caught up with the Guyanese animator to hear more about her journey into animation. In February, Dorielle Retemyer was able to see a short film she animated for Dreams in Vantablack, being shown on screens in downtown Dundas Square.
