Press

“Using a variety of forms and styles, such as the found footage essay, collage animation or experimental live action, Gallagher marshals her material into raw statements of anger and intent. This bold and colourful montage aesthetic incorporates paper cut-out collages from magazines or thrift store bookshop finds, 16mm found or confiscated footage, oil painting animation and hand-drawn rotoscoping. Images explode onto the screen in a carnival of colour and iridescence: glitter, thick and sumptuous paint, or purple-tinted translucent oil on clear 16mm leader draw attention to the tactility of the hand-made process involved. Through teaching animation, touring her films at radical film festivals and making her work free and accessible online, Gallagher’s work both provokes and invokes others to share their stories. In doing so, these films celebrate the strength that can be gained from, in the film-maker’s own words, ‘using one’s hand to shape her own stories.’” -Sophia Satchell-Baeza for La Furia Umana, International Journal of History and Theory of Cinema

“In an era where digital compositing and software tweening are largely unquestioned aspects of the average animation workflow, where overseas outsourcing is commonplace and mainstream American animation is mostly a corporate-funded, committee-created consumer product, Kelly Gallagher’s brand of DIY, handmade cinema is inherently radical. Gallagher ignores distinctions between art and craft, documentary and essay film, while incorporating found footage, archival audio, and original interviews with rotoscoping, cut-outs, and paper collage derived from cultural detritus of mysterious origin… [Gallagher] continues to reclaim and amplify lost histories through combined acts of political and visual rebellion.” -Dave Merson Hess, Founder of Rush Process Festival of Handcrafted Animation

“[Gallagher’s films] reveal the discursive power of found footage and non-narrative forms, developing a cyclical style reminiscent of writers as diverse as Karl Marx and Frantz Fanon… Explosive films like Gallagher’s are incredibly valuable in fomenting outrage and providing even momentary catharsis…” -Matthew Levine for Found Footage Magazine

“Gallagher brings topics like radical feminism and police brutality to the surface through collage-style manipulations of found footage, traditional cinematography, animation and sound. ‘Her work is accessible and poignant; she’s a virtuoso when it comes to animation,’ Anthony Buchanan says.”  -Bree Davis for Westword