Qualia takes the viewer on a journey and explores thinking and expression in animals in a dreamlike context, emphasizing the inner-workings of each subject. My intent is to evoke feelings of displacement and suffering through the use of puppets that I created to exist in a world all their own where they go on a journey of self-reflection and allow the viewer to glimpse into the interior of an unexplored, ignored world that exists in another place and time. The leaders of the clan conduct experiments on various objects and creatures in order to reveal what makes them unique. They are suffering and empty inside and desire knowledge of why they are not considered special by man. Through studies of other species, the clan members continue to attempt to figure out the meaning of their existence. Different characters come to investigate the subjects and question what has happened and grasp to understand their place in the world. Each is affected differently and ponders the quality of their awareness of their own experiences.