Visual Experiment

A Trump rally and counterprotest. Two protestors have their signs cut out and you can see polka dots from the tablecloth underneath.

https://www.politetype.com/blog/thesis-02-experiment-with-frames

This week for a visual experiment, I took a series of photographs using cut-out images based upon the photograph that I have been investigating. See the link for a full write-up, but here are some of my takeaways from the experiment.

  • Working with the people, flags, and some of their apparel in this way, I found myself thinking about paper dolls. Changing out the outfit or signs for different people, I found myself changing the small stories I was forming about them. I felt like I was in control over these people in a way that was different than manipulating the images in photoshop. I think perhaps it was the simplicity of switching, combined with the ability to hold the people and items in my hands.
  • When just the primary flag was cut out, I found myself searching for backgrounds with the question “What else can I have her hold?” When I had cut-outs from both sides, I found myself hunting for items with the question “What else can they agree on?”
  • Walking outside and looking for flags to fake, I started looking at the messaging that I was walking past everyday in a different light. What would it mean to take a moment from my day and put it on a flag?

Visual Representation of Personal Connection

What is my personal or emotional connection to the topic and goals for this project?
First and foremost is curiosity. I think second is empathy. I think I don’t really believe in super nefarious people. (Don’t hold me to that.) I’m interested in telling this story from multiple people’s perspectives. I’m interested in investigating how a number of different strangers doing perfectly normal things might have pushed certain scenarios and systems into alignment, the result of which is a very odd artifact. 
I’m also curious about the impact of art and investigation into a subject. As it stands right now, it actually seems that in their ignorance of what I’m calling a crime, none of the people who I would currently classify as a victim feel victimized. Am I opening Schrodinger’s box for them? Killing a cat that they didn’t even know about and introducing chaos into someone else’s life for my own purposes? 
So yes, 
  1. curiosity
  2. empathy
  3. fear, that art just makes me selfish

I decided to depict all of this with a quick visual playground using shaders. Shaders were a good technical fit here, because I don’t fully know what I’m doing and I’m not really working with intention right now. But I’m allowing the process to dictate what it needs to, pushing different numbers to extremes, and learning from what I observe.

Also, sometimes its kind of an ugly mess.
A bright pattern using yellow, green, and red.

Three Artists

  1. Sam Lavigne: https://lav.io/
    1. Sam Lavigne has done a number of projects specifically around Amazon, and also using web scraping and data collection as a major component. There is also an element of humor from humanity in his work, which resonates tonally with the type of user experience that I have enjoyed building in my own work. 
  2. Truman Capote: In Cold Blood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood
    1. Written in (and epitomizing) the style of New Journalism, In Cold Blood is defined as a non-fiction novel. I’m really captured by this relationship between truth and narrative, the integration of process as project, and the devotion to multi-perspective storytelling.
  3. The Markup: Amazon’s Advantage 
    1. I really appreciate the investigative journalism that is happening at The Markup, and specifically in the space around Amazon. I also really appreciate the transparency around research methodology and the commitment to a clear, ethical, and measurable impact. As I’m starting to face challenges in how to investigate an ethical problem without furthering the problem, I really appreciate the posturing of “Do No Harm” rather than adopting a “For the Greater Good” mentality towards the treatment of others.