Project Notes

Project #5: Political; print installation

Proposals:
1-1/2 silent film--asking a variety of people what the "f" word means to them (feminism). I was thinking of keeping the audio for male responses and silencing the voices of the female responses to represent how often women's voices are frequently silenced in society. 

2- I was thinking of setting up a big sign somewhere that poses the question: "what does the f word mean to you(feminism)?" And passerby can write their responses. However, after they respond, I would give them a 'sexism stat'-a lot of people don't really think sexism exists anymore, so just providing people with small simple facts might force them to think twice. Maybe give these stats in the form of a pad or a tampon, something blatantly feminine and natural but also kept on the DL, something girls are made to feel ashamed or embarrassed about for some silly reason beyond me. Hopefully this way, I can make at least a small effort to getting rid of the jaded misunderstandings some people have about the feminist movement. Maybe have the student respond and then have another sign that explains what the modern feminist movement really is about. 

Research:
Process: Making 80 of these was a lot of work, by the end of the project, I was left with about 77.

So, I kind of had three prints, all installed at the table--can be seen in the video, but not very clearly. forgot to take a picture of the table itself :(-- One was the Got Feminism sign, made with a stencil and different colors of acrylic paint (the rainbow colors to represent LGBTQ community). Another was a stack of small stickers that read "Got Feminism?" And third was the tampons themselves, all containing the feminine symbol. The statistics included came from these articles:


















Final Product:

FINAL VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MOYZauUCuI&feature=youtu.be




For my project, I set up a table outside of the Student Union from 12-3pm on a Tuesday. Needless to say, the area gets a lot of traffic. However, throughout that time period, roughly 10-15 people stopped at my table. The few people that did stop were fantastic. The first couple of people, which were probably my most positive, reassuring interactions were unfortunately not caught on camera. (Damn you, Mattie! jk, thank you for helping me ily) Almost immediately after putting up a sign, a girl about my age stopped me and asked me about my project. We talked for about five minutes about our views on feminism, the negative stereotypes surrounding the movement, the issues with radfem and transphobic feminism, our love for Portlandia and Elvira, the Feminist Union at UNCC, Slutwalk, our wishes for the feminist movement and more. It was such a positive interaction and I was sure there was going to be more--wow one minute in and I already had such a fantastic response! 30 minutes passed...snickers. glares. eye-rolls. "oh crap. crap. we made eye contact. let me look away really fast maybe she didn't notice me." I DID NOTICE YOU! COME BACK!
At about 1pm, a professor approached the table and asked what I was up to. I gave her the spiel, and she was just tickled. She congratulated me on speaking out and wished me much luck, signed my board (hers was the "feminism is not a swear word" comment--she's right! Believe it or not people, feminism is a good thing and everyone needs feminism.) and she said she wished she had a class at the time, so she could've brought her class to my table, which really meant a lot to me. The fact that a professor would have made her students come by to hear what I had to say was really profound. She was incredibly kind and we had a good discussion about what feminism means to us and how we need to keep up with our efforts in order to achieve equality. 

There were also a lot of middle-schoolers on a tour of the campus, so at times I was met by a lot of immaturity. As one can see in my video, one of the kids tries to make fun of another student using my tampons as a factor in the joke. The fact that femininity=embarrassment, laughter, humor, shame is really disappointing. These kids are so so young, yet they've already been taught (force-fed) that womanhood is something to be ashamed of. The ONE girl out of a group of about 30 that stopped at my table was one of the most brave I had encountered all day. I love her reaction when she first spots my table ("ooh what's that!" I'm glad that my setup caught her attention) and she defies her classmates, who all kind of nudge away from the vicinity and make jokes and snicker and whisper. And she was one of the 2-3 people all day long that actually took a tampon fortune with her. It's hard to hear in the video, but she could barely pronounce the word "feminism" as if she'd never even heard of it. Turns out, she didn't. I highly doubt any of them did. When I explained the movement to her a little bit and showed her some statistics, I could see the wonder and curiosity ignite in her. She walked away from the table reading the stats and I can only hope that I inspired her to learn more about the movement and that she'll continue to be courageous, unafraid, and defiant against the crowd. That was really inspiring to me. 

Another thing I noticed was that no one really knew exactly what to write on the board. Many of the younger girls kind of copied each other's answers I think--'empowerment'/'power' is on there a lot. And those things are absolutely true and great starting points, but I think people only know the bare minimum about the movement. If that. I got a few people who had never even heard the term "feminist" before. One guy asked, "isn't that when girls hate girls?" 

Even though I was shocked that so many people knew so little, I thought it was a great starting point. One of my favorite responses--no, my absolute favorite response-- on my board which poses the question "What does feminism mean to you?", one guy wrote "IDK yet." I love this, I am obsessed with this response. He was one in the group of four at the end who kind of got a feminism 101 with me. This response means so much to me--it's almost a promise that he is going to continue researching the movement, its a promise of searching for knowledge, just the addition of the "yet" provides so much hope, so much potential. He was incredibly interested all throughout our conversation, and the fact that he admits he doesn't know much but eventually WILL, was more than I could ever ask for with this project. Just knowing that I made some kind of impact, that I was a catalyst, is a great feeling. 


Reflection: Pretty much, this whole project was a great learning experience for me. I already knew that it was likely I wouldn't receive frequent visits at my table because I already know how the majority of the population view the movement (reasoning behind the whole project in the first place.) What I didn't anticipate was that no one would accept a tampon--my attempt to eliminate stereotypes and educate the public, show people what feminism is about kind of flopped. So, this whole project just fueled me even more; it has me thinking more--I definitely want to try and figure out new innovative ways to get these discussions started, get those facts out there in a way that won't scare people right away. Because this is a topic so near and dear to me, I definitely will attempt projects like this again; it feels good doing something and being active about things you are passionate about. And it also is a great feeling when you meet someone who supports the movement and validates what you're doing. And it's an even better feeling when someone inquires about the subject and actually learns something from you and is intrigued and interested. I mean, with those 4 students near the end of the video, I kind of expected them to linger around for a minute or two tops--they ended up talking to me for like 20 minutes. When I was reading them the statistics, they responded with shock, wonder, curiosity, anger, discomfort--it was a fantastic reaction. They left the table wondering about the movement, and I have no doubt they went home and actually inquired more about the movement--it was the same reaction I had when I first learned about the feminist movement, and look where I am now. I think that's all it really takes--the truth, getting it out there and then everything would unfold itself. Like soooo many other taboo subjects out there, stereotypes just get in the way, make everything cloudy, unapproachable, scary--it really hinders the positive progression we are all trying to make with this. Even though I spent 3 hours getting a whole lot of weird looks and giggles and scoffs, even though I got a nasty sunburn sitting in the sun, even though only about 10 people stopped at my table, even though only a few people took the tampons, I enjoyed every second of it. It was truly invigorating. I will definitely continue my efforts until ALL of my sisters and I achieve the justice we deserve.

As for my classmates, I really really really loved Heather's for obvious reasons. I resonated with what she said about how women are condemned for having sex, not having sex, using contraception, having abortions, we literally cannot win. She mentioned slut shaming as well and I loved that she mentioned that ridiculous, disgusting "19 kids and counting" family. I could go on for days about how fucked up their mentality is, how selfish and irresponsible and ridiculous and sexist they are, but I will stop before I get angry. I'm really impressed with Heather's project. However, I think it should be displayed in a more obvious fashion-at first, I couldn't tell that the bassinet was made out of birth control packets and at first, I thought her project was going to be about abortion. Although I think art is valuable because you can interpret it any way you'd like, I love Heather's message way too much for their to be any vagueness or guesses as to what she's trying to say. I would have loved to see her message in a more blatant fashion--present it in a way that clearly gets the message across, because I think it's an incredibly important one.

I loved Wes and Eli's approach--at first, I wondered what the point was of mixing up the cards to make dirty phrases (amusing of course, but I didn't really get it). However, once they finished off the game and showed how quickly an STD can spread, I was very impressed with the concept. However, I only wish they had gone into more detail about STD prevention and also discussed the stigma surrounding STDs. Yes, STDs are common. Yes STDs can be transmitted quickly and easily--without contraception. Also, several (not all of course- viral infections/HIV etc) STDs can be treated and cured just like any other infection with antibiotics. There just happens to be a lot of stigma around STIs because instead of a sore on your hand or mouth, it's on your genitals, and people are made to feel ashamed or embarrassed about that for some reason.  I can't really critique them too much at this point, because they didn't get to finish. However, the ending point was very promising and I would have loved to see if they did actually venture into practicing safe sex, consent, the importance of getting tested and vaccinated, which I think is way more vital to our society than scaring people about STDs. That is the tactic almost every high school uses and the results are horrifying. Only THIRTEEN states require that their schools provide medically accurate sex ed. As a result, sex is condemned, kids are told not to have sex, kids have sex anyway but now because of the lies they've been told in school, they don't know how to practice safe sex, and there are more unplanned pregnancies and more sexually transmitted infections. I feel like Wes and Eli were going in that direction and were going to talk about practicing safe sex, I just wish I got to see the entirety of their presentation.

Project #4: Fantasy/Wearable

Proposals:
1) Book character: When writing about what makes me happiest, I found myself repeatedly resorting to movies and books to escape reality. I daydream quite often of being someone else, which is why I love to dress up and cosplay so much-it's so much fun to pretend you are a part of some fantastic plot, a story you love so much, a personality you admire. I ALWAYS envision myself as at least one of the characters in a novel. For the project, I thought it would be cool to embody a character from a book coming to life--pages making up the costume, gradually transforming into a character.
2) Movie character: Going along with the book character idea, I also thought about embodying a movie character. I didn't really want to choose a specific character, I wanted to generalize--I just wanted the essence of film. So to me, I thought back to the beginning of film, when movies were getting increasingly popular, and decided on film noir, movies from the 40s-60s era. Not only do I love several films from the film noir movement, but I also love the depiction of women in these films. Film noir was around the time WW2 was ending, so men were coming home from war, expecting their pretty little wife-dolls to be at home still, cooking and cleaning. However, they came home to working women, women working dangerous jobs AND taking care of the family--a wonder woman. Women were done taking shit--and this reflected in film noir with the introduction of the femme fatale. Women with elevated status, confidence, power, secrets, she was seductive and manipulative and had men falling at her feet. In several situations, we even see the woman elevated above men for the first time in history. (Of course, I don't believe that women are better than men or anything like that) But for the time period, women were making strides toward equality, and this was an impressive effort. Showing the world that women are indeed powerful, complex, strong people.
3) Middle Ages/Elf/Nymph/Renaissance: For my third idea, I kind of wanted to go with the traditional "fantasy" route, which also happens to be a personal fantasy/obsession of mine. I love all things Medieval-Lord of the Rings, Renaissance festival, Game of Thrones, etc. I'm not sure if I would choose just one of these characters from the Medieval era, or do a personal spin on several of them, and create my own character. Not only are they fun to embody (swords, crazy weapons, beautiful old English), but the clothes back then were phenomenal and would be amazing to try to recreate for this project.

Research: Mostly for my research, I just watched film noir. My favorites include Gilda, The Killers, Lady From Shanghai, to name a few. I also re-watched my favorite Hitchcock films just to get in the horror/drama/suspense mood- Spellbound, Dial M For Murder, The Birds, and Psycho are my absolute favorites. I also watched several videos on Youtube discussing the history of film noir, the femme fatale character, how she related to women during that time period, etc. I gathered clips from several movies in order to create my sound, which can be heard in the following video.

Process: The makeup process was very time consuming as I expected. I had done a test-run of what the makeup would look like the night before, but didn't spend too much time on it. Luckily, my morning class ended a bit early, so I got the opportunity to really take my time and do a good job with the makeup. Going out and finding props for the costume was also very fun; I look putting costumes together and the makeup process is always fun.

 Displaying photo.JPGDisplaying photo.JPG

Final Product (with sound):





Reflection: I thought this project was a lot of fun; I love any excuse to dress up and pretend I'm someone else for the day. Of course, the movement part was a little intimidating at first, but it ended up not being so bad. I'm really upset my little radio didn't work or else my sound could've been louder during the performance, but oh well. I still had a lot of fun with this, and looking back, I didn't really have much to dwell on in the first place.


Project #3: Ecology, Multiple/Accumulation

Proposals:
1) For my first idea, I thought I would somehow incorporate my Wicca practices, since Wicca is so deeply rooted in nature and it is part of my everyday life. I thought I would film me performing a spell or ritual of some kind, to bring luck or health/healing or prosperity, etc.

2) For my second idea, I wanted to do something that still incorporated Wicca so I thought of accumulating objects/notes/drawings inspired by my graveside observances. A graveside observance is something I like to do quite a lot actually and since it takes place in a very specific "place" (cemetery), which was required for the assignment, I thought it would work really well. I thought I would do my observances like normal, but do it several different times and come up with a collection of artifacts from my experiences.

3) For my third idea, I kind of wanted to take a more negative approach to the whole nature thing--on our class walks, I couldn't help but notice how much trash littered the ground and how little people were taking care of nature; I saw a cigarette butt in the dirt every 5 steps. For this idea, I was thinking of going on a walk somewhere and collecting all of the junk I encountered and then make some sort of sculpture, showing that there are better uses for trash and also to show how careless people are when it comes to the environment.

Final Product:











Process: My graveside observances are all about being hyperaware and fully taking in your environment, using the clues that the universe gives you to make good decisions and culminate good results. Wicca demands paying attention to all details of your experiences with nature and your environment. For example, changes in wind patterns, changes in temperature, noises you hear (are they positive or negative?), gut feelings (do you feel scared or do you feel at peace?), etc. When visiting the cemetery, I usually just walk around for a while, get in tune with my surroundings, relax, adjust to the sounds, and forget about my worries and thoughts. Once my head is clear, I start to hone in on certain gravestones- I usually walk up to ones that speak to me in some way; I like the ones that are usually unkempt or broken or hidden or have no name or are super old, mainly because they seem the loneliest. I usually just stand near the tomb for a minute or so and take in my surroundings-does this person want me here? Sometimes I get a really positive feeling, I feel peaceful and I feel welcome and I pick up on physical signs that support what I’m feeling. A nice breeze will pass, I’ll notice berries growing or wild flowers, birds will chirp, and there are several clear places to sit comfortable. If I feel welcome, I will sit and continue with my observance.
However, nature’s response isn’t always pleasant and one must always be very aware and cautious to make sure you aren’t disturbing or disrespecting someone who doesn’t want visitors. For example, sometimes I will get a really eerie vibe when standing near a resting place for too long and the physical world holds several signs as well—bugs will bite, the sun will go behind the clouds, there is an odd silence, there will be no places to sit comfortably, the tomb will be surrounded by anthills, etc. These tombs I usually just apologize and leave them be.
A few of the people I encountered at my observances for this project included an infant, named James, a Markes James Foard, several “no-names,” a young man named Tommy, and a Joseph Yandle. 

Reflection:
This project was actually really fun for me (and relaxing). I love every excuse I can get to spend more time out in nature. It also gave me several opportunities to reflect more on life and death and I also got to meet a few souls--I really like visiting people in cemeteries, especially older graves, who probably don't have any living relatives left/visitors. This project allowed me to escape for a bit and really think about matters that are actually worth thinking about. I only wish I had thought of this a few weeks ago, so I could've gathered more artifacts and my collection would have been larger.


Project #2: Time, Photo Series

Proposals on Home Page

Final Product:

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Ironic as it is, I think the Time project came at a very good time for me. Bad timing, because I had to miss my critique; but, it helped me a little bit with coping with the situation, and I got to include my grandpa in the project, which I felt good about—it was kind of an ode to him. Even though his time was up, it wasn’t really because he lives on through my family. I’ve been reflecting a lot on time itself—how little of it we have and what we should do with it while we’re here. When the time project was assigned, things were starting to get really bad with my grandpa—he had been suffering from the cancer for a while and finally decided he was done with chemo. After his decision, he started to wither at an alarming rate. This past Saturday, about 30 minutes after my grandma kissed him goodnight, he passed in his sleep. He just turned 69 last week and also got to spend one more Valentine’s Day with my grandma. Time is so weird. Why do we try so hard to keep track of it? We always have somewhere to be, we freak out if we’re late to a meeting or a class. I feel like we would all be way more relaxed if there was no way to keep track of time; we’d be able to appreciate what is happening in the now and not worry so much about mundane, trivial matters.

I decided to recreate a few of my family’s most iconic images. After researching a little, I soon found out that recreating baby pictures has been done before, multiple times. And I noticed how precise and how exact they were—that is what made them so intriguing and funny. I began to brainstorm ideas about how I could make mine different, more poignant and have much more meaning. So, my photos are not exact replications. Instead, I chose images that I could recreate, but show how glaringly different (or similar) situations are with my family (besides, obviously, age). For example, in the first set of photos, I included the photo I mentioned before in my proposal, of my sister and I dressed as witches on Halloween. Originally, I wanted to replicate the photo exactly. But I soon realized that doing so would not convey the message I intended—it would just look like another old replication photo—it wouldn’t convey the fact that I transgressed from a person who partakes in a consumer holiday without realizing the oppression real witches face to an actual witch who has to deal with that very oppression. Instead of just replicating the photo, I made myself visibly different from the original. My sister remains in the costume. Instead of a costume, I dressed in my normal every day clothes to show that, despite what some people might forget, witches are people too—normal, everyday boring people, good and bad, kind and irritable. Normal. I also included a book, clearly titled Wicca, and am wearing my pentacle, in case the message wasn’t that obvious. Over time, I have learned a lot about religion, science, the state the world is in right now. The first photo shows my naivety, even my parents for that matter, participating in this misconstrued stereotype of witches. The second photo shows my experience, the knowledge gained, a transition. My sister is a metaphor for the people who are still are, and will probably remain to be for a very long time, ignorant on the subject of witches and Halloween.  

The next two sets of photos were meant to show habits, addictions, how hard it is to stop something once it’s started and how ingrained different activities can become in our lives. Nearly a decade has passed since the original photos were taken, yet both of my sisters still hold on to habits they had as small children. My youngest sister, Natalie, was and continues to be, an avid nail biter. My second youngest sister, Chantal, has always had a knack for sucking on her lower lip. These habits help pass the time when they are anxious, have helped them cope with difficult moments throughout their lives, they have spanned over years and years and they probably won’t ever see an end to them. These photos show how some things are permanent, indefinite, no matter how much time has passed.

The next photo set I included is an old picture of my closest cousin holding a baby alligator at the age of 7. We grew up in South Florida, and her dad/my uncle is one of the best alligator trappers in the state. We grew up around gators and even had a mini pool in her backyard full of baby alligators that we’d play with. The second picture is my cousin present day, 22, holding an alligator to show how interests and passions can follow through several years. Kayla is now an alligator trapper herself, and is even a part of the GatorBoys crew on Animal Planet (I’ll include a link because I think it’s so cool seeing her on TV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Pq865OqPg). In the photo, she’s wearing her work shirt and signature gator tooth belonging to the members of the whole crew. So, like the ‘habits’ photos, I wanted to show how a love for something can be so powerful that it can transcend an era and follow you throughout your whole life.

For the next set, I wanted to recreate a photo that could depict the current state of my immediate family. So, the first photo consists of my family several years ago, with my sisters, mother and father. The next photograph looks fairly similar to the original, but the glaring difference is that my parents are excluded from the photo. I did this to show how my home life is—my parents aren’t really in the picture anymore (pun intended) and it’s pretty much just my sisters and I looking out for each other now. We hardly see my parents anymore and they aren’t really concerned with us. This photo not only shows the close relationship my sisters and I have always shared, but it shows how families can be broken, and the majority of the time, they usually end up broken one way or another. The photo couplet shows persistence over time and, simultaneously, distance over time.

The next photo couplet is of my sister Chantal. The first photo is extremely loved amongst our family—everyone thinks it’s so funny because she was so upset, probably over something silly, and my mom was still making her smile for the camera, and she complied; the outcome is this cute, crying kid with a forced smile. I chose to recreate this , not only because it’s a family favorite, but because I thought it would be really good to depict the depression my sisters and I have been dealing with for a few years. Things have been not quite so great, and I wanted to show how it’s hard to even pretend like we’re okay, like Chantal was easily doing as a toddler. It used to be easy to cover up sadness with a pretend smile, but not so much anymore. This is what I tried to show with this couplet. It shows how different things are; how easy things were when we were young—how trivial and small our problems were, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become unimaginably difficult to find joy.

I also included photos of my grandpa, because I felt his situation was the most pressing and really concerning time. The first set is of my grandparents helping Natalie learn how to ice skate; they’re holding her hands and guiding her while she experiences something completely new and scary for the first time. The second photo is reversed and the roles are switches; it’s no longer Natalie in the middle, needing the help; it’s now my grandpa, visibly very ill and my grandma and Natalie are there for my grandpa while he goes through an experience extremely scary and hard; nothing like learning to skate, of course. But the journey we’ve been on for the past few months has been all about learning how to deal with death, how to accept it, how to keep on living after a well-loved man passes.

Like the previous photo couplet, this couplet of my grandpa and mom show Milestones—In the first photo, my grandpa is giving away his daughter at her wedding, supporting her, loving her, helping her transition to this next stage in life. He raised her and prepared her for the world. In the second photo, his daughter is returning to help him, helping prepare him for his final stage, preparing him for a possible otherworld. The colors of the clothing they’re both wearing also symbolize this role switch—mom is originally wearing white to symbolize purity and innocence and grandpa is now wearing white, because he’s returned to a state of innocence—a childlike state, requiring constant care and help and protection and love. Their faces also show their unconditional love for each other, despite all the time that has passed and everything that has happened throughout their lives.


 The photo series capture two separate moments in time, moments that are years, huge gaps apart. They explore the past and the present and they show how much can change over the span of some years. The photos look similar, the faces look similar, but there is sadness in the eyes where happiness once existed. There are members of a family missing entirely due to a series of terrible mishaps. There is a complete switch of roles—the innocent turning wise, the wise turning innocent again and the helpful turning helpless, vice versa. 

Artists:
1) Anthony Seldon: Although not as artist, Seldon is a journalist from NYC (he actually graduated from Johnson and Wales in Charlotte). I chose him because he did an article where he found a collection of people who had recreated their childhood photos.

2) Memory Roth: is an oil painter. Her name is probably a pseudonym, because her work is literally all about capturing a special, meaningful moment in time. Her works are joyful, simple, evoking emotion related to childhood, family times, pets, etc. I thought it proper to include her as an influence, because my project is very family oriented and all about capturing significant moments.


3) Steve Pyke: Pyke is a photographer, who photographs his children as they age—he used to photograph them daily, but now that they are older, he just photographs them every few months or so. It is really cool seeing the progression as his children age. I thought his work related to mine, because my project is all about showing differences and similarities of situations and people and relationships after time has progressed. 

Process Photos:
Looking through old photographs, messing around, and extra shots.









Reflection—I found it rather fun and nostalgic recreating these photos. Sad at times, funny at others, very emotional. Especially the photo of Chantal crying; she had to channel sadness for that, and I’m pretty sure she was thinking about our grandpa and having to shoot that was emotional for me as well. It was good for me to reflect on the current state my life was in—where the people and relationships in my life stood, how situations are, how to appreciate the way things were once, to cherish the good memories, and learn from the bad ones.

Project #1: Play

Proposals:


Final Product:


Selecting topic:
When trying to find a solution to this problem, I tried to remember as much as I could from my childhood. The thing that stood out most in my mind was how theatrical my sisters and I were. We played a lot of dolls, went to acting school, watched a lot of movies. The dramatic flair we acquired from acting and watching movies reflected greatly in our play. We would create elaborate plots for our dolls, which included an abnormal amount of lying, cheating, deception, sex, murder, suicide, etc. When I hear the word "play," I think of three things: child play, sexual play, and theatrical plays. So, for my project, I incorporated all three. The entire piece represents a typical plot my sisters and I would concoct- the bottom platform starts out with a typical "happy family," a conservative looking family with their children, surrounded by bright colors, toys, food, etc. The next platform depicts the beginning of a spiraling plot with the infidelity of the husband. The skeleton hands symbolize the couple's impending doom and they also foreshadow death. This platform also depicts sexual play, quite literally and graphically, as we did when we were children. The next platform shows a murder scene, the plot worsening and getting increasingly dramatic/graphic. You then see the teenager hanging from a noose in the center of the construction, obviously having committed suicide. The last platform has a tombstone, a skeleton, clearly symbolizing death and "the end." I added the red curtain to represent the theatrical play aspect of the entire piece.This all embodies what my play was like as a kid and what a literal play is like. The whole project itself is pretty playful, because it's sort of making light of serious situations. Dolls cheating on each other, dolls bloody and dismembered, hanging from nooses. It's silly, and when looking at it, some may find themselves stifling a snicker. The subject matter is not supposed to be funny, it's incredibly dark and twisted. But the fact that dolls are the victims makes it playful.

Artists:
  • Ana Salvador: Ana is a doll maker, but not in the typical sense. Her dolls have a very eerie, creepy aesthetic and feel to them. When one thinks dolls, the immediate thought is usually dolls = play=children. However, her dolls function more as decor/art, aimed more towards adults/collectors. They have a very old/vintage/serious/dramatic vibe vs. the traditional childlike/innocent/endearing vibe dolls give off. 
  • Gail Lackey: Gail is also a doll maker, but her dolls are really very scary. Absolutely stunning, beautiful dolls (I'm seriously considering purchasing one) and simultaneously very creepy and macabre. Her dolls are "playful" and "like a theatrical play." They have so much emotion and drama and they each have their own personality and story. She gives each doll a name and unique characteristics relating to their story-some have been killed by vampires, bitten by werewolves, drowned, murdered, etc. I thought it relevant to include these two doll makers because like their dolls, my construction has that dichotomy as well: playful yet morbid. They also, like my project, contain drama and a story line. 
  • Tim Burton: I included Tim, one of my all time favorite artists and biggest inspiration, because he too makes humor out of dark subject matter. His stories include murdered brides, dead dogs, and scary monsters, yet somehow these same stories attract small children. He tells emotional, sad, twisted stories using clay figurines (dolls pretty much), which makes dark subject matter playful. 

Process Photos:






Reflection: It was kind of difficult to figure out a structure that would not only symbolize a chaotic, spiraling plot, but also support the abundance of objects. I do wish I could have figured out how to create a spiral staircase structure, to allow the piece to be seen from every angle. Despite all of this, I feel that I captured what I was trying to say with my piece. I like that I incorporated more than one type of "play." I really enjoyed digging through my old toys and finding objects, altering some by ripping dolls apart. It was very fun and nostalgic. (The looking-at-old-toys part.)

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