Nik Arthur Turns Swamp Duckweed and Fire Into Animations for A24 and J. Cole

Canadian experimental animator and filmmaker Nik Arthur builds moving images from living and organic matter — wool, sunflower florets, light and fire — and has applied that method to a 2026 A24 identity visual made with real duckweed drawn from a swamp in Montreal. Working alongside Emi Takahashi, Arthur treated the plant as paint and the swamp water as canvas, shooting in reverse and shaping the composition with a laser-cut plywood piece; the pair spent an entire day securing the take before fine-tuning frame timing. Arthur describes the material as a collaborator rather than a tool, noting that patience, listening and compromise are required and that the outcome is always surprising. His influences include Rinko Kawauchi and Norman McLaren, and he pursues what he calls a natural ecosystem of ideas. Commissions have come from Jonah Yano, YouTube and J. Cole, the latter a fiery animation sparkling with embers made with Anna Chandler (2026), plus a Psycho Films logo animation (2024) and work for the artist inspiration app Cosmos with actress Odessa A’zion. He is on Instagram at instagram.com/nikarthur.