Bringing it all together

This is some pictures from my final installation.

Installation: preserving + touching

My idea is to create an environment that the viewer can walk through, be apart of.  The wax forms surround the viewer, through the viewers interaction with the object the act of preserving is being experienced. It is through the act of experiencing, interacting and then preserving that memory is passed down. The wax forms themselves were created by the memory of one individual hand, through the action of another hand interacting(holding the waxed form) and responding to the feel of the memory of another hand, the viewers mind embeds the memory through touching.

Interactive Timeline

I wanted to create a way for all my family to be able to bring their memories together. This is a mock up of how I would collect data through an interactive site on the internet. This would also be used to show data, not only could my family upload pictures and type stories by date but everyone collectively would have access to view this history.

The need to remember....

Why do we have this need to remember? Are we afraid of forgetting the past, what we saw, what we heard, what we felt, what we tasted.  Senses play this large role in remembering,  preserving it. But what happens when the taste leaves your mouth, when touch can't be felt, when a voice can't be heard, when a vision can not be seen. It is human nature to try to save it for ourselves. I've been thinking a lot about senses, our sense of touch and feel. I made these forms out of wax, hoping to investigate further forms that would allow me to capture the touch of the hand. The gripping of hands to me is the most personal level, very different from shaking hands, or holding hands during prayer. Some may disagree but the gripping of hands in my world is more sacred than a kiss. Only for close family and relationships in your life. I can remember my great grandmother even at 102 grabbing my hand the minute I got there, her skin soft felt like it had been transformed back into its original state like a babies butt.  I'm interested in experimenting with wax due to it's ability to take form in your creases, to take shape in your touch. It has these transparent quality that can be used in many ways. Layering an image or showing what it contains. It can capture warmth like a living hand. It has this amazing ability to preserve when cooled and melt away when heated. Not sure where I'm going next I want to compare it to water see where that goes.....

2008-

In the last 100 years the diversity within each crop has decreased drastically. Added with the pressure of crop production at the expense of the soil and land. Today they're only 5 different types of potatoes compared to over 300 hundred just centuries ago. This has left it more susceptible to uncontrollable disease, like we saw in many potato famine.

The mistreatment of the United States Economy did not start today. Just like the potato famine was caused by many layers, the US Economy has suffered from years of focusing on quick dollar instead of the consideration of its affect and the big picture.

1845-1918 2008-

Today is September 29, 2008 and when asked how I felt about the events that unfolded today , it just all seems frustratingly out of my control. I created this image out of the feeling. A dollar, a potato in themselves not sustainable but as a quantity has the power to sustain the masses. I think about the affects today will have on me and my community directly and indirectly.
The potato famine in Ireland started in 1945 fifty years before my granny was even a live. The affects of her family and country's poverty she had no control over, she was just affected. She was shipped to America at 18 because their was no more room in her house and not enough food to go around.
My own home, Detroit is in a scary state from the fall of the big 3 and the trickle affect of the countries bad economy. Foreclosures, unemployment on a rise. I would love t0 end up in Detroit but due to the job market I may be forced like many graduating Michiganders to go where the opportunity is.

The symbols of her life

I've been thinking about how to go about this idea I am exploring. And I think before I can start layering old documents and meaningful items. I need to think about what are the symbol that defined her life that will take forefront to the layer backgrounds I will create with her left pieces. Combining primary and secondary elements I hope will give the illusion of "peering in" for the viewer. I have this need to make it feel like the past, a captured moment and I'm going to use that idea to create a overall "sense" of the work. Just as a camera allows a place to look into, the primary symbols will create a defined border to peer into.

What are her symbols:
Are they her fundamental beliefs, her image, her children, the history she lived in, the history she made, the places she made marks on, what bordered her life, what connected it all together.

Family History

This is my mom at my great-grandmothers house in Ireland. She was about my age in the picture. The house has become part of the land just a memory.

To create pieces that bring out my Granny's 102 years of life I must first understand the people that keep her memories alive. This is a picture of her oldest son, out of her 10 kids, with his family in New York. My Grandpa, her oldest son on the right and my mother below him the right.

Process

I am inspired by this graphic. I would like to explore different ways of interacting with words and images. In this the layer of text becomes a texture in the background. The different choices in leading,weight and typefaces create a color variation within the background texture. 

I created this piece last year about my Great-Grandmother. I want this to be the starting point, what emerges from this I am not sure. I have a direction I am interested going in but I want to explore my options. I want to find ways to capture her 102 years of life through the layering of documents interacting. I hope to let her story out.

Defining Boundaries>The Boundaries of Words

What are the boundaries of words?

Words at one layer can classify an image and at another become a texture, a symbol, they can become not just a words but a part of an image. Words have no boundaries, they can have a set objective or purpose by the designer but every viewer may see,translate or connect it in a new way redefining its boundaries.

How well do boundaries of one word system transfer to other word systems?

A system should be able to function alone and also be able to interact to another. Boundaries from one word system to another can only be defined when the presence of the their connection is found. When seeing what makes them the same one is able to see why they are different.


What are the limits of what a word system can include and still be a word system?

A system is defined by its creator, the limits of a word system then must stay within the lines that have been defined. Due to the fact that anyone can redefine an existing system the limits are unless.

What are the limits of what a word system can exclude and still be a word system?

As long as their is intention to the exclusion then it fit into the purpose of the system itself.

What is a word (word system)?

A word system is made up of intentional purposes, limits and functions, creating its own system.

Is a system of word function with a purpose.

Without a purpose their is not function a function happens when the purpose is created.

Does translation result in a form/version of the source word/word system or a new word/word system?

The reader, the translator plays a role in how the system will function, it can function how it was created or redefined by the translator new factors.

What are the forms/architectures of word systems?

Their are many form of a word system, the visual, the structure, the individual, and another other define by the creator.

Must word systems be made of alphabets?

An example of one group of systems is alphabet, within this system a letter has a determined meaning and purpose. This principle of giving something a purpose is similar factor in many system. But this does not limit ever word system to this barrier, its is up to the creators intention to create a functioning system with their own limits.

Words and Images

I am interested in capturing history through the layering of words and images.