South Carolina-born and formerly Brooklyn-based director, writer, animator and composer Case Jernigan showcases his lightboxes and drawings at the Creative People in Florence space at via dei Serragli 58R on November 1 (5-10pm) and 2 (2-10pm), accompanied by a screening of his short film, Noggin, made with creative partner Morgan Bosc, at 7pm both evenings.
The seven-minute-long stop-motion animation was created this year, with Case telling us, “I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago, and these pieces reckon with the mental and physical changes of having the disease. The film is currently playing festivals, and even won an award at the fabulous Salute Your Shorts festival in Los Angeles recently”. Case and his partner, Cassandra, moved to Florence last December, having studied here almost 20 years ago. The language learning element of the move to Italy has provided added benefits: “I read that challenging mental activities, like acquiring a new skill can help us grow new neural pathways and learning a language is one of the best things that you can do to keep one’s mind sharp. The character that we’ll be making in our new film is a bit misguided because he puts a lot of faith in the hope that he can outrun the speed of the disease by growing neural pathways at a rapid rate. History and science tell us that that’s just not possible, but faith and belief are part of the core of what the film will be about.”
Finding gratitude while grappling with the difficulties of the disease is something that is present in the works. “I can either be incredibly depressed and feel horribly sorry for myself, or I can try and recognize that I’m incredibly lucky with the people in my life and what I get to do. My circumstances are difficult, but so are many people’s, and I feel quite lucky with what I do on a daily basis. This parabolic motion of how we process feelings can be quite universal.”
“The title of this exhibition, Safe Cave, comes from the fact that I had a vision of a cave in the interior of my mind, and it was one of the most sensorially rich experiences of my life. Elements of it were scary to me, but I also knew fundamentally that it was some kind of safe place for me in my mind. Ever since I had that experience, I’ve been able to recall it at certain times, usually stressful times or if I’m feeling anxious.”
Case also uses his art to raise awareness. “Last year, before my partner, Cassandra, and I left New York, we participated in two big fundraisers for the MS Society, raising about 10,000 U.S. dollars that went directly to the organization. I definitely want to continue that element of this process here.”
The starting place for his work in progress is “culture shock and the lies that we tell ourselves. One of the entry points is that I’m obsessed with soccer. I play with a group of guys here in Gavinana, and it’s a big piece of my life. Since I’ve been sick, I’ve definitely had more injuries, and it’s been more challenging to play, but each match is like a gift. When I first moved here, amidst all the changes of leaving our home in New York, bonding over Fiorentina with people who I met here was the easiest mechanism for me to feel comfortable, so the short film is a bit about Fiorentina and bonding and what a team can do for you, but also the looming fear of what’s going to happen to me in the future is a theme of all my work and how to manage that fear.”