Sand animation is a term which has two meanings. It is the name given to a style of live performance art, and also to a type of animation. In the former, an artist creates a series of images using sand, a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then rendering images by drawing lines and figures in the sand with one's hands. To increase visibility and to add further artistic aesthetic, a sand animation performer will often use the aid of an overhead projector or lightboard. In the latter, animators move around sand on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to create each frame for their animated films. Caroline Leaf is a pioneer of this type of animation. It has also been intermittently used in recent years by Belarusfilm.
Joe Castillo is known for his piece "The Passion" performed to the music of [Mel Gibson]'s film "[The Passion of the Christ]" with music written by [John Debney].
Ferenc Cakó is arguably one of the most popular artists of this medium. Examples of performances by Cakó and many other sand animation artists can be found readily online.
Ahmad Habash is famous for the "flee" short sand animation and the performance "from the memory of the sand" at the third anniversary to commemorate the late president Yasser Arafat.
