FINAL WORK
question 5 — Contemporary art and design often looks at the idea of constructed binaries, such as man/woman, soft/hard, straight/gay, dirty/clean, organic/synthetic. Considering the history of these ‘pairs’, how can art and design interrogate these binaries and offers new insights?
Binaries are complementary units that create a harmonious whole. The binaries that exist among people such as man/ women, straight/ gay, rich/ poor, black/ white etc. have been warped and skewed so that these binaries become representative of a us and them, creating a difference that has been exaggerated causing segregation within humanity. We can see the result of this in every conflict that has ever occurred in out history. This issue comes down the fundamentals of identity and how it is performed by the individual and consequently understood by others. As this is the basis in which these groups are formed.
In 1954 Muzafer Sherif conducted the Robbers Cave experiment that used groups of adolescent boys to demonstrate how a common goal can diffuse abhorrence and prejudice between groups. This was the foremost significant source of inspiration for my first assessment and hence a concept I wanted to investigate further with this project. These groups are firstly formed through a common factor within their sense of identity, my work intends to provoke the question, is unity only achievable through conformity? with this notion, post colonialism leaves too many factors in which one can categories themselves leaving the only common factor for all humanity and life in general is death. Thus my animation piece is an exploration of the binary of life and death while critiquing on the disunity of humanity and the process in which identity is communicated in this milieu. This Capitalist society has oriented modern life around the act of consumption thus made identity a commodity to which we purchase or sell. This materialistic mindset also means that our materials things are representative of one’s self. Homi Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space articulates this hybrid space where post colonialism notions of identity are non existent so that one can express themselves in purest form thus diffusing any barriers or binaries that would otherwise separate humanity. Therefore, my piece interprets these ideas into a representation of the afterlife to emulate this idea of the third space where no physical or material factors of identity exist and where one’s expression of identity achieves complete liberation.
Through my experimental research I was lead to artistic possibilities of shadow and light. My work draws inspiration from the works of Lotte Reiniger and her elegant silhouette animations. The style of characters that made up my poster in the first assignment is emulated with this animation as the playfulness and innocence as it is more efficient in receiving a sympathetic response. The animation is also my way visualizing how I would traverse this space if I where to be immersed in it and hence a personal attempt to communicate a sense of self and a form of personal reflection. Shadows are a tangible existence of absence and in itself a paradox; as it both applies to both existence and non existence. Hence I utilized shadows to create my representation of an afterlife as a symbol of a space where we can shed the material and physical parts of ourselves and thus the post colonial factors that make up our identity are forgotten and whatever differences we find between each other falls away taking with it the barrier in which we find difference, allowing harmony to promulgate and properly sustain itself. The medium of animation is one that this semester has allowed me to gain a proper grasp of, this project was an opportunity to use it to explore a concept that I was interested in and explore its potential. Additionally this medium is employed to parallel the fluctuating nature identity- developing and changing. The first assessment bought to my attention the potency of symbolism which I try to demonstrate with the use of a white candle. In Chinese culture the color white is used to commemorate death and used in funerals, it also synonymous with notions of purity and the unknown thus is apt in conveying the message of my project. My work aims to place the audience into this afterlife space and communicate notions of harmony through the emotive atmosphere and provoke awareness of the deconstructive forces of identity.
References
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SPIERINGS, B., & VAN HOUTUM, H. (2008). The Brave New World of the Post-society: The Mass-production of the Individual Consumer and the Emergence of Template Cities. European Planning Studies, 16(7), 899-909. doi:10.1080/09654310802224702
Social Influence: Crash Course Psychology #38. (2014). YouTube. Retrieved 13 September 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxGDdQnC1Y&list=PLVaXzLJCnbGUXqiFmExVUeSebhCdqVWk8&index=1
Gehrmann, V. (2016). Symbolism of colors - Chinese Customs. Nationsonline.org. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/colours.htm
War, Peace and the Role of Power in Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment - PsyBlog. (2007). PsyBlog. Retrieved 24 August 2016, from http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/war-peace-and-role-of-power-in-sherifs.php
Third Space Theory Part 1. (2013). YouTube. Retrieved 10 September 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-ikrnYu9g&list=PLVaXzLJCnbGUXqiFmExVUeSebhCdqVWk8&index=7
