Martha Colburn is an artist and film-maker. She is particularly famous for her hyperactive animation films, in which she combines – among other things – puppetry, collage and paint. The hand-made stop-motion films reflect grotesque parades of indescribable creatures: bizarre syntheses of people, animals, limbs and objects. Colburn mixes pop culture and political images within a raw, picturesque form of punk-aesthetics. This is why music – especially rhythm – also plays an important role in her films, which she also sometimes combines with live musical performances by herself or others.
Colburn often uses existing (media) images that she paints over with various types of paint, and combines with her own drawings and constructions. These reflect the importance she attaches to the use of colour. Colburn’s themes are varied and often political: from the position of women and the role of sexuality in society, to the international politics of America. Nevertheless, Colburn’s manual, non-technological working method ensures that the films retain a personal and intimate atmosphere.