Jocelyn Tsaih
Jocelyn Tsaih is a Taiwan-born, Shanghai-raised artist currently based in Oakland, California. She works across various mediums including illustration, painting, mural-making, ceramics, and animation. The focal aspect of her work is an amorphous figure that’s meant to be both a reflection and a vessel–for herself and viewers alike.
V:
What film has had the most impact on your practice, and how has it directly influenced your work?
JT:
If I had to choose one, it would be Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. I first watched it when I was a kid and it had such a lasting impression on me (I even had nightmares about it), mainly because of the distinct characters and the elaborate world that they inhabited. I think this film and the other Studio Ghibli films have subconsciously existed in my mind throughout the years and influenced me to create my own world with the figures that I depict in my work.
Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiki, a 13-year-old witch, moves to a seaside town during her year of mandatory independent life. She struggles to fit into this new community, so she decides to support herself by utilizing her flying skills and creates an air courier service.
V:
Your work revolves around a world of amorphous humanlike characters – if there was one character in a film that represented you, who would that be?
JT:
Probably Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, another Miyazaki film. I love that she has a talking cat – and being a witch with magical powers would probably be pretty amazing.
V:
As creatives we all have influences we try to emulate and/or projects we wish we created – is there one film that you wish you made?
JT:
I’d pick the Pixar movie, Soul. The concept and subject matter of souls is something that I’ve thought about since I was a child. It was so cool for me to see this concept being explored in a movie. If I had watched the movie when I was a child I think my mind would’ve been blown.