White (2023)

Overview

White leads us through the indigenous plants of the Taranaki forest, Aotearoa (New Zealand), before the landscape dissolves in a mysterious whitewash. This ecosystem was largely destroyed in the 19th century when British colonial settlers cleared the forest to introduce dairy farming. Dean invites us to consider the effects of colonialism within human-made climate change. The animation loops and the forest returns, hopeful of renewal and showing the resistance of Mãori communities.