wow.
The project that I am currently working on is going to be really interesting. As most of you know, I am having people record themselves saying things that have hurt them in the past. For example, one person said, "I couldn't deal with you everyday"... another said, "You're life is worthless".
While some of the quotes I have gotten have been more surface level, the majority of people have really opened up. Even a few guys have been able to step up and say something that has stuck with them for a while. This really makes people step back and think "Wow. What I say really can hurt someone else." I even had someone tell me while listening to a few of these recordings, "I told that person (who had just given their quote to me) that last week. I feel bad because I didn't mean for it to come across like that."
I'm excited to continue getting quotes from people and seeing where the narrative will lead.
Mark Rothko, who I am continually liking more and more, said, "One does not paint for design students or historians but for human beings, and the reaction in human terms is the only thing that is really satisfactory to the artist." This is exactly how I feel. I am already excited to see how people will react to this piece. I want to see them take it in. I want to watch their faces and listen to how they will respond to it. I want this piece to convey something that every person will be able to relate with individually. That is why I want a wide range of quotes. I want people in all walks of life and from all different backgrounds to be able to relate to this piece and the people behind it.
how I feel thus far.
This piece has some unplanned qualities to it. First, I have no idea what people will reveal to me through their quotes. Also, I don't truly know where this is going in the long run. I am going to try and change the narrative in the end so that the story takes a more positive turn; however, I have no idea how I will do that. I like the idea of not knowing where this will go, yet I personally have a tendency to want everything planned out. I am very much a planner, so this project is stretching that part of me out of my comfort zone. I feel kinda nervous about how this will turn out, how I will make it happen, how all of it will come together ... but I am just gonna go for it and see where it takes me.
Agnes de Mille, famous choreographer and dancer, once said, "The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark." This is kind of how I am going about this project. I am incorporating chance into my art and letting it go where it goes. Hopefully, something beautiful will come of this in the end.
what I'm hoping to accomplish.
I hope that through this piece, all audiences will be able to relate. I want everyone that walks up to listen to it to say "wow. I remember the time when (so-and-so) said something hurtful to me when I was younger and how much it affects me to this day" or "wow. It's amazing how these people really opened up for this piece." or "wow. I didn't realize just how much words hurt until now." I'm hoping to appeal to the emotions of all different types of people and convey in them a respect for how what they say can affect someone tremendously.
“Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.” ~Jean-Luc Godard
I am still looking for more quotes (from girls and guys) if anyone has something that they are willing to share!!
Sorry that this post is kinda scatter-brained :/
ReplyDeletei love what you're doing and the meaning of it. i am really excited to see how it ends up!
ReplyDeletewow. I absolutely LOVE this. Like this is actually my favorite. I love how you're taking people's pain and making it into something that can touch others. I love how as this project progresses, it is shaping not only the path your artwork is taking but also your own perspective on people's emotions and experiences on a general scale. And there is something incredibly raw, intimate, and touching about listening to the very words that have done actual damage to someone. This is so up-close and personal to one specific person but it is also really general and it hits a wide audience because you're taking the recordings from a variety of people (age, gender, experience, etc.) wow. I don't EVEN KNOW what to say. Okay that was a little lengthy but your piece is extremely interesting and I am absolutely stoked to see the end product.
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ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post and I appreciate how you broke it up into sections, making it easy to follow. Please cite your quotes (college prep!) you might as well get accustomed to this habit when engaging in academic circles as you contribute to conversations, blackboard responses, write blogs, essays, papers, thesis papers...anything in the public arena.
Ok, I think you now have a good sampling of the responses to really critique where you are now. Let’s do this in the coming week with everyone and get opinions. Individually the responses are powerful. When you string them together, even without edits, it is haunting - exposes our sinful nature and its manifestations in one form or another. Here, the tongue, and we have the eye, and the ear, the hand, the foot...Hummm, makes for many artistic possibilities in which you can express your biblical worldview. I think just hearing the actual person revisit these situations with the spoken word cannot be replicated in any other way-. We need to really think about the format, perhaps it is just piped into an empty room. Adjacent is a room that is silent. Sometimes what is not said can cut just as deep.
We will to remember. Think about that. Strange that we will to remember these things and have a harder time remembering the praise, or good word. With technology, it’s easy to do both in a superficial way. Lots of food for thought. I like how you are embracing technology to make your work. Keep thinking of your mediums. When you edit, think about the formal aspects of the work - layering, repetition, emphasis - i.e. intervals in between.
Maybe another piece of work could run selected digital messages from social media on the wall.
Sounds like a concentration to me. Keep up the good work.