Fireside Chat Artist Statement

            As I read the assignment description for the Fireside Chat, I felt my stomach sinking. I have nothing against live performing, but I find it difficult to perform live as myself. It’s enjoyable to present a character in a performance and pretend to be someone other than myself, but to bare my own life, experiences, emotions, and self to an audience is much more challenging and nerve-wracking.

            During preparation for this project, however, I began to realize that I had something that I wanted to say. The ideas flowed and something began to develop. One phenomenon that I have observed here at BYU is that although there are a number of students, particularly within the film program, who are socially liberal, there are very few who are fiscally liberal. Being incredibly fiscally liberal, I decided to use this as my topic.

            In Susan Sontag’s essay, “Regarding the Pain of Others,” she writes that photographs often present something as better than it actually is. During my preparation for the Fireside Chat, I realized that I wanted to avoid this phenomenon if at all possible. Because of this, I chose to not use any form of projected media for my project. I wanted to use something that was physical, real, and tangible. I felt that this added a small sense of realism to my project.

            I also wanted to avoid preaching or lecturing. I knew what I wanted to say, and I knew what my viewpoint was, but I decided to make things even more personal than I had originally planned by telling a personal story about myself. I was inspired by Jane Taylor’s poem, “Poverty” and the way that she personalizes her story by talking about what she will do with her money, whilst still very powerfully making a point. I wanted to do something similar.

            And so I told a personal story, interwoven with cynicism and political thoughts, dressed as a homeless man, and used cardboard signs as my media. All in all, I feel as though the presentation wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Although I memorized my piece, I forgot several parts as I stood in front of the audience. I also feel as though it may have been the wrong time and place to present such a topic. Most of the other presentations were more comic in nature, even if they were dealing with serious topics. I wonder if this detracted from the message I was trying to convey.

            In conclusion, I enjoyed the Fireside Chat more than I thought I would. I was able to share a personal story about myself in a manner that was potentially more powerful than simply writing it. I do, however, wonder if even the Fireside Chat was the best medium for this particular story.

Concerned Citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYHggsb9tJM

This project was the most frustrating so far.  Firstly, it was pretty tough to think of something that both of us wanted to do.  We both had different ideas that we thought would be worth pursuing but it was tough to reconcile these differences at the beginning.  However, once we really began to look more closely at the ideas we settled on the idea of a look at a volunteer at the Humane Society.  I felt this would be something a little different as most people think of helping in their community as helping people.  The Humane Society helps both people and animals by finding homes for orphaned animals and helping a family find a new member.

Something from the reading by Goldbard that really stuck with me was “We understand that anyone who wishes to make significant headway on a social problem or opportunity must engage with people’s feelings and attitudes about it.”  When I read this, I thought of Sarah Mchlachlan singing “Arms of the Angel” over the faces of the injured and sad-looking animals.  The ASPCA wants to make significant headway in solving a problem so they are engaging with the emotions of the people. This is one of the reasons I thought of shooting at the Humane Society.  Though this was an inspiration, I wanted to show more of the good sides of being at the Humane Society.  I wanted to tell people about the good things that can come of it instead of just the sad because that is usually all people hear.  Also, I helped organize pet food drives in my hometown and I had always thought about volunteering but could never get myself to do it.  I really wanted to hear what inspired others to do it and why they continued to do it. 

Secondly, the process for this project was rather hectic.  I first began calling different animal shelters in the area to set aside a time for me to come in with a camera and talk to someone who volunteered with the animals.  However, many shelters told me that I could not get footage of the animals or that they did not have time for me to come in.  In order to get the footage I had to drive to Murray on Sunday and just walk in a talk to someone.  Once I did that, I was golden until I realized that the mic equipment I had rented didn’t work and I only had an hour to get all my footage.  This presented a problem to get good sound on the interview and I kind of had to rush everything to get through it in time.  

Protest Poster

Artist Statement

            As I prepared to create a protest poster, I found it difficult to determine exactly what I wished to portray. I knew that I wanted to portray something to do with capitalism. Unfortunately, capitalism has been portrayed in many different ways and part of the assignment was to present a social issue in a less-conventional manner. It was then that I came across the musical machinations of Sun Rise Above, in particular the album “Every Day I Wake Up on the Wrong Side of Capitalism” and the title track (includes strong language) from said album.

            As I listened to this rapper and considered the implications and messages presented, I realized how I wanted to portray capitalism and its negative consequences. I realized that capitalism is almost never presented from the perspective of those on the “wrong side” of it: the oppressed, working and impoverished classes. An article from the New YorkTimes pointed out that in France, most members of the socialist party are in fact products of “elite schools and careers.” Chimamanda Adichie represented the dangers of such one-sided viewpoints in a TED talk in which she spoke of different stereotypes that she had been exposed to, from the westernized books that she would read as a child, to the views she had when visiting Mexico. With all this in mind, I began to produce my piece.

            I wanted to be able to understand and present poverty from the viewpoint of those in poverty and I used a collection of photographs from various photographers to try to comprehend the various aspects of poverty. Those in poverty are often objectified or presented as less than human even in the artistic pieces that are attempting to draw attention to the problem. I found it refreshing to look at some of the photographs of children smiling and happy, despite living in poverty. I realized that in order to avoid dehumanization, I would have to draw attention to those not in poverty rather than trying to portray poverty. I chose an image that would commonly be found on a poster fighting poverty, but chose to draw attention to the reader and point out both the similarities and the differences between the reader and the people portrayed in the poster. I feel that I was able to avoid dehumanization and still draw attention to the subject through the line I put on the poster; a line which I had drawn from Sun Rise Above’s album, and which I felt accurately portrayed my response to many capitalists.

            Response to this poster on Facebook was very intriguing. I found it especially interesting that not a single person liked the poster who was a student at BYU. Thinking deeper on this, I realized that even though I have met several socially liberal students at BYU, I haven’t really met many economically liberal students. I was also able to have a very engaging discussion with one of my roommates about the poster in which we discussed poverty, socialism, and capitalism. I personally believe that a socialist or communist society could not exist in the US due to the rampant individualism, so common in our country today. We do not care about the common good, except as it directly affects us. If we were to change our perspective and realize that those around us were humans and part of our society, our motivations and desires would change.

            In conclusion, this is an issue that I feel particularly strong about, but I was able to realize through this project how important it is to avoid dehumanization when poverty is portrayed.

Webspinna Artist Statement

            As we considered this project, we found it difficult to come up with a topic for our Webspinna battle. It wasn’t until we discussed different personas in class that we arrived at a solution. We realized that we would be more effective if we focused our theme on our personas and not vice versa. Through this focus, we were able to discover and play with the question of why personas are created and maintained.

            Our personas for the Webspinna battle were Richard Simmons and Robin Sparkles. We found this particularly applicable as both are technically created personas themselves; Richard Simmons was originally named Milton and Robin Sparkles is the stage name of a fictional character in the television series How I Met Your Mother. We also wanted personas that were very different from our normal selves. With these personas in mind, we began choosing our clips and links.

            We chose links that were iconic of our personas. We wanted our personas to shine through and not necessarily our song or clip choices.

            Much like DJ Spooky’s Rhythm Text we didn’t want our performance to be dictated and controlled by the order of our pieces. Rather, we chose a beginning and an end, and let the rest happen spontaneously. This created some confusion and discord, but the project seemed to call for it. This contrasted with our personas, people who meticulously controlled their public appearance and identity.

            The performer Lady Gaga is a master of creating a persona. Her stage name is based on the Queen song “Radio Gaga” which Brian May wrote to illustrate the “messagelessness” of their songs. In much the same way, Lady Gaga has created a persona which mocks fame and the purpose that we tend to put behind music and art in general. Although our personas did not go this far, we did mock the idea of personas with our over-the-top outfits, which were so different from our normal selves.

            Through this, we discovered at least partially why personas are created. Through our taking on the personas of Richard Simmons and Robin Sparkles, we were able to be people, do things, and wear clothing that we normally wouldn’t.

            In conclusion, although we both were fairly hesitant to begin with when we read the description of this project, we were able to discover at least to some extent why and how people create personas for themselves. We also were able to develop personas and use this to perform in ways we wouldn’t if we were acting as ourselves.

A World of Ideas

Artist Statement

There is nothing more powerful than an idea. Through ideas, wars are started and ended, diseases are cured, art is created, and love is born. We decided to create a world in which ideas became commodities, items to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In doing so, we came to consider how the world we created, and in turn, the world we live in reflect and influence our morals and society.

It was an enjoyable experience crafting the world in which ideas were mined, bought, and sold. What was particularly interesting was that we seemed to feed off of each other’s ideas, even though we worked mostly separately. Each new idea or concept seemed to spark new ideas and we were very unified in our vision of this strange world. Upon further reflection, it became clear that this was due to our having a unifying theme or purpose in our world building. Julian Beecker wrote in a 2009 essay that fiction follows fact. In our case, the design of our world followed fact in that it was based on our perceived inequalities in the world and merely accentuated these.

George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, is not merely a novel about one man’s search for sex and fulfillment in a dystopian society. Rather, it is a stirring commentary on not only the society in which Orwell lived, but the progress of the human race. In much a similar fashion, we came to see how our created society was a commentary on our current society and world. There is class inequality in the world today and although social mobility is possible, it is severely limited due to lack of education and appropriate infrastructure. In short, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, although there are several exceptions. We wished to highlight this, by creating a world in which there is no social mobility, since even ideas can only be purchased by the rich.

We attempted this feat by creating a newspaper. Through this medium we were able to present several different ideas in what would hopefully be a fairly normal fashion. We wanted to present the world as those living in it would see it and not as outsiders. Because of this, we focused on ordinary stories and advertisements. Through advertisements, we showed fashion, in particular focusing on the elaborate fashions of the upper class. One of the advertisements even compares the fashionable upper class to the plain clothing of the lower class. The upper class show their power and status through their extravagance. We also focused on the idea of ideas affecting everything from propaganda to crime.

Through this assignment, we were able to not only create a world and society, but also were able to speak through this world and get a point across that was more powerful through the presentation.

Mario-me

Artist Statement

            I grew up playing the Nintendo games of Mario and Zelda. To this day, I can recognize the sounds, sights, and even the controls of those classics. I do, however, view video games in a different way today. Through this project, I attempted to reconcile both my childhood view of video games and my current view of this media. In the process, I also reconciled my childhood view of myself and my current view of myself.

            Much as in Jenkins’s How Texts Become Real, as a child, I viewed video games as something malleable and moldable that eventually became mine through use. I couldn’t consider myself to truly be in possession of Mario Kart until I knew where all of the secret passages were, which character I drove best with, and how to get a boost every time I accelerated from the starting line. In light of this, I decided to add the name “Seth” to the foot of Mario, much in the manner that Andy in the Toy Story franchise writes his name on the feet of his toys. This shows both in the films that the toys belong to Andy and is often used to remind the toys to whom and where they belong.

            As I’ve aged, I’ve played fewer and fewer video games, although the ones that I do play are much different. Beginning with Goldeneye, I played a number of games that put me in the feet of the main character. Games have become more story driven and more personal. I attempted to show this by putting my face in place of Mario’s. Through this process, I began to recognize how I identify myself with video games and gamers.

            As a child, I tended to view myself more as a character in the video games I would later play. Life was my adventure, and I knew that it had a happy ending. There were goals and accomplishments and I knew that sooner or later I would achieve the ultimate goal. Now, however, I identify more with the very early games, such as the early Mario games. I realize that more often than not, I feel as though I am chasing after something, despite the almost certain knowledge that I will never achieve it. Mario is constantly chasing after Peach and (in the earlier games), he never reaches her. Not only that, but she never even acknowledges him. I feel, in much the same way, that I constantly work towards things without any recognition or achievement. It was because of this that I chose Mario as my subject as opposed to Link or one of the other earlier video game characters. Perhaps there is a happy ending, but for the Marios of the world, we’re still waiting.

Fashion as a Medium

Artist Statement

As I considered which medium I would choose for this piece, several ideas, each one worse than the previous one flashed through my mind. I thought of film, photography, painting, and music. It wasn’t, however, until I read that the almost-legendary designer Marc Jacobs announced that he would be leaving Louis Vuitton that I realized what I wanted to create.

            Marc Jacobs has been known for his extravagant, nonsexualized or overly sexualized to the point of fetishism, strange and otherworldly designs (examples can be found here, here, and here). He is the poster boy for fashion as spectacle and it was with this idea in mind that I began creating my piece. I decided to approach fashion as an art form and not really as a wearable medium. I purchased several articles of clothing and removed any utility from them by ripping, tearing, and cutting them. I then modeled them in a dimly-lit, grimy parking lot. In order to focus on the clothing and not on photography, I did not edit the shots and only used the camera’s automatic focus.

            My attempt was to show fashion’s potential as art and not merely as clothing. In the upper-class ultra-rich portion of society, the same fashion may be worn that three weeks earlier was parading down a catwalk in Paris. In the normal, middle-class portion of society, however, fashion is considered something merely to be worn and used. In such circles, luxury fashion is often considered to be unnecessary, over-priced, and in some cases a complete and utter waste of time. I find both approaches to be wrong in some respects. I believe that some fashion is not designed for wearing (see Marc Jacob’s Fall 2012 Collection), but should be appreciated and interpreted for what it is: an art form. We would not judge an experimental film because it does not conform to our ideas of traditional narrative; in like manner, we should not judge extravagant and almost-unwearable fashion because it does not conform to our ideas of utility.

            Through showing fashion that is not wearable and is not beautiful, I showed that fashion itself can stand apart from mere clothing. It is an art form of its own and should be appreciated as such. Just as McCloud in his piece “Show and Tell” argues that a change in the perception of drawing and writing should occur and is occurring, I believe that a change in the perception of fashion as art will positively affect both the fashion world and the art world.