Adult Animation Revolution: ‘Salvation Has No Name’
by Tito W. James
In Salvation Has No Name, a troupe of clowns gather to perform a story about a priest and a refugee but as their misguided tale unfolds, the boundaries between fiction and reality begin to fray. The stop-motion animated short was directed by Joseph Wallace, who expressed in an interview during Annecy that the short acts as an allegory for the refugee crisis.
The short film has absolutely stunning imagery. The use of abstract expressionism creates a meta-fable that communicates the metaphor more effectively than live action. Salvation Has No Name is a prime example of animation communicating truth without realism. I look forward to more of Joseph Wallace’s work in the future.
