Animation artists, based in Ghent, Emma De Swaef was born 1985 in Ghent (Belgium) and Marc James Roels in 1978 in Johannesburg (South Africa). Their first collaborative work Oh Willy... (2012) has shown at festivals worldwide, taking the grand prizes at the Holland Animation Film Festival and Animafest Zagreb, as well as the Award of Distinction at the media art festival Ars Electronica. The film follows the transition of the soul of the chubby lead character, Willy, who traverses between immaturity and maturity, brutishness and reason, between this world and that world. Willy’s psychological crisis, triggered by the death of his mother, a member of the nudist community for many years, is depicted at times dramatically, at other times comically.

Emma De SWAEF + Marc James ROELS　Oh, Willy...　2012 courtesy of the artist