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FIBRE 312 - Project 2 - Identity
Oct. 25th, 2020 04:37 pmSunday is the day I do the big tub scrub for the bird cages and I usually have a little time to LJ. Ten minutes for the soaking, twenty for the drying. Oooof, it's a chore like any other one!
Project 2 for my Tuesday class had me wiped physically and emotionally. I took three stabs at it and the third one worked out. We studied the works of Canadian artist Meryl McMaster. She is a visual artist of nêhiyaw (Plains Cree), British and Dutch heritage. I saw one of her exhibitions at the Glenbow a year or two ago and the photographs were amazing.
I wanted to do something photography based as well, but, after much mind mapping, could only come up with making still lifes out of my personal objects and clothing in a bureau cupboard. I may post the photos later. As it is now getting darker outside, I had to wait for certain times of the day for the light to come in. I took loads of pictures and moved things around slightly in case I wanted to animate them in a video. Hehehe the video did not happen :-D Holding objects, remembering what they meant and positioning them was upsetting at times. I held my grandparents portrait and realized that I knew so little about them because they were such private people.
As someone who has feet in many identities and more than one culture, it was a very difficult assignment. How much of a culture can I claim? How do I make something public as a private person? What do I want to share with an audience?
What finally did happen was a Pinterest like website that used photographs and texts. I posed questions, arranged photos and came up with something that I was personally satisfied with. In exploring identity through material culture and a diary-like format, I did succeed in posing these thoughts:
I ended up using almost 200 digital photos and it was a sculptural process to arrange, re-arrange and order them around the text. Sometimes it was random; sometimes it was intentional. 43 years is a long time to be here on the planet--and the 40s are a special time in adulthood to start planning your next 40 years :-)
Project 2 for my Tuesday class had me wiped physically and emotionally. I took three stabs at it and the third one worked out. We studied the works of Canadian artist Meryl McMaster. She is a visual artist of nêhiyaw (Plains Cree), British and Dutch heritage. I saw one of her exhibitions at the Glenbow a year or two ago and the photographs were amazing.
I wanted to do something photography based as well, but, after much mind mapping, could only come up with making still lifes out of my personal objects and clothing in a bureau cupboard. I may post the photos later. As it is now getting darker outside, I had to wait for certain times of the day for the light to come in. I took loads of pictures and moved things around slightly in case I wanted to animate them in a video. Hehehe the video did not happen :-D Holding objects, remembering what they meant and positioning them was upsetting at times. I held my grandparents portrait and realized that I knew so little about them because they were such private people.
As someone who has feet in many identities and more than one culture, it was a very difficult assignment. How much of a culture can I claim? How do I make something public as a private person? What do I want to share with an audience?
What finally did happen was a Pinterest like website that used photographs and texts. I posed questions, arranged photos and came up with something that I was personally satisfied with. In exploring identity through material culture and a diary-like format, I did succeed in posing these thoughts:
- Who do we keep in our lives?
- What do we keep in our lives?
- Why do I still have some of this stuff?
- What was it like moving to a new city as a teenager?
- What do I say/not say or do/not do to avoid confrontation?
- How much of a culture can I claim?
- How did my identity change when I lost 40 pounds?
- How does identity change as we age?
- Why was it so much easier when I was younger?
I ended up using almost 200 digital photos and it was a sculptural process to arrange, re-arrange and order them around the text. Sometimes it was random; sometimes it was intentional. 43 years is a long time to be here on the planet--and the 40s are a special time in adulthood to start planning your next 40 years :-)
