Mid-Missouri-based artist and geologist Carrie Elliott created an array of animal eyes to adorn Alley A in downtown Columbia this weekend during the True/False Film Fest. The festival’s theme this year was Foresight. According to the festival’s website, this theme “speaks to our age-old desire … to see what’s just around the corner.” Those who desire to be artists for True/False must submit a proposal for a project that revolves around this theme.

“The True/False [art directors] publish a list of prompts on the website of different ideas and I just kind of looked at the list and thought about eyes,” Elliott said. “It’s kind of literal to have eyes … but the animal eyes are really colorful and I really wanted different colors and a variety of animals in the installation.”

These animal eyes are actually lanterns that begin to glow as the sky grows darker and are composed of a wide array of different materials. Elliott said she had originally planned for the eyes to be cubes, but the project ended with them being spheres after some artistic adjustments.

This isn’t Elliott’s first time attending or creating art for the True/False Film Fest. She began attending True/False in 2005 and started producing art for it four years ago after working with a friend who also had pieces in the festival.

“I learned about the process, and the next year with the call for proposals I thought of an idea that fit with the theme really well, proposed it and got it,” Elliott said. “[It’s been] worth it.”

As someone passionate about science, Elliott has incorporated her interests into her projects for True/False. Her past installations include astroturf carpets as well as lanterns made in the shapes of minerals, carp and now the eyes currently being hung downtown.

“It’s really fun, I’ve found, with True/False, to make something really big,” Elliott said, “[It’s fun] to make many, many things or something that’s seen by a lot of people.”

Now that the fest is over, Elliott plans to take a break from artmaking. According to her, any future True/False installations will depend on the circumstances surrounding the festival.

“It’s a competitive process, and you have to propose and see if [True/False] likes your idea,” Elliott said. “Inspiration has to strike.”

After all of Elliott’s hard work for her installation, festivalgoers seemed to really enjoy Alley A’s newest addition and attested to the value of this type of artistry within True/False.

“It makes True/False, otherwise it would just be a documentary film festival and that’s not going to be engaging to everybody,” festgoer Tracey Milarsky said. “Knowing that you can walk down on a beautiful day like this and see the street art that’s for everybody really makes it a community event … It changes what the festival means to our community.”

_Edited by Sophie Stephens | sstephens@themaneater.com_