Michelle Ha

Art and Design student in Stamps at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

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I had a dream that the Tumblr staff said there was going to be a big update and we all started complaining but then the day of the update came and everything looked the same and everyone started scrambling to find what changed and then someone posted a supernatural gif about the situation and was immediately and publicly executed and it turns out the update was “if you mention Supernatural in the year of our lord 2021, we will kill you” and then we were like “this is the only good update we’ve ever gotten” and then we just. continued sh*tposting

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For the (Re)Mapping project I created a game that reflected my journey throughout this semester. I created a box containing myself inside it to symbolize the walls I put up. The first “panel” coincided with our first sequence project of methods class. I created a small peephole that I could look out of occasionally but kept closed most of the time reflecting how I kept mostly to myself in the beginning of the semester. I got to really know Lauren a lot more through it, but I was also hindered a lot by my misconceptions of what artwork could be, so we ended up sticking to traditional photographs which is what I used to create a scrambled word. Each of the pictures also showed my progression of being straight-faced to more silly to show what I’m like from outside to inside. I also chose orange to be the word to allude to the subject of Lauren and my subject in our sequence project.

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The second “panel” had a bigger opening where the people could see my whole face. I also began to engage more with my audience to symbolize how I started to open up more. I made the participants finish a row of knitting a scarf to let them know more about what I do in my free time. I usually knit to destress from school. I also made a sheet of riddles that eventually spelled out chicago to pay homage to where I come from. It’s also where I went for mission over spring break. This “panel” was to allow people to just see a little bit more of my life outside of school.

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The third “panel” allowed the viewers to see more than half my body. The participants had I spy sheet that contained social media symbols to reference Destini, Shalin, Ashley, and my body extension project. This was where I learned that art could also be nonconventional and fun like the twister game we created. I spy was a game I loved as a little kid so I wanted to input that into my mapping project.

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The last “panel” was the most important because it was a way for me to get to know everyone. I made the class write any fact they wanted to about themselves. The door was also made so the participants could open the “wall” from their side. Symbolizing my willingness to be opened up and glimpsed into. I wanted to class to know more about me but I also wanted to know about them. There was a two-way direction in each of our relationships.

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mapping project

Statement:

Throughout this semester, I’ve learned what it means to open up more to people and how that allows us to engage with each other. I explored how people broke down my walls and what it meant to break down my own walls. Not only so that others would be allowed to see into more of who I was, but also, for me to be able to see more into others. Through each project in methods class, I was able to collaborate and get to know people better. I wanted to recreate a game where everyone in the class would be able to collaborate so that they would see more of me and I would see more of them.

Reflection:

It was unfortunate that we didn’t get to have that much time in class to present our projects. I felt a bit rushed, and I couldn’t clearly explain the significance of each panel. The purpose of my game was to allow others to see more or who I was, and it was difficult to allow others to learn more about me when I couldn’t explain it all to them. Although it was unfortunate, even with these shortcomings, I believe people were able to see the more mischievous, fun side of me. It was definitely interesting to see who would take lead roles to solve the problems and see all the different roles people would take. Different people had different bits of knowledge, which they had to combine to figure out some of my games. Something I definitely want to take into consideration is my intentionality with all aspects of my box. Could I use other material to “open” each panel instead of the cloth? How could each interaction I have with the audience be intentional? How can I show more of a graduallity of little to no interaction to being fully open by the end?

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readyyy settt gooo

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the ominous box

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it’s a mess in here!

I spy with my little eye...

-Facebook

-Twitter

-Snapchat

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a scrambled word from mapping project. Guess what the word is~

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mapping project presentation

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Process presentation before the final presentation.

Making progress.

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(Re)mapping Project idea presentation

Responses to the project idea were positive. I just need to think of now more specifics in what I might include to reveal about myself, and how I’ll exactly go about doing it.

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Body extension final video!

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group interactions/presentation

Twistagrambookchat was a creation based off of our interpretations of Ian Bigelow’s poem This is not a poem, René Magritte’s This Is Not a Pipe and social media. The idea of connecting beyond our generation's idea of “connection” was to show the imperfections of our connections on social media. Even the game mat was a reflection on the overuse and glorification that society gives to social media. The style of the mat takes the pristine facade of social media away. It is no longer on this metaphorical pedestal that we (as a society) need to upkeep and maintain. This is further evidenced by us leaving our footprints on the mat. We are more than social media, and we can function fine without it, even if it provides for good entertainment.

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My pieces of our body extensions project

We each had a “puzzle piece” of a whole logo of a social media platform created from layers of laser-cut cardboard pieces. There was a lot of play in making sure the pieces looked very ambiguous difficult to guess what they would form. Each piece was essential in emphasizing how we can “connect” but not truly connect through social media, inspired by Ian Bigelow’s poem This is not a poem and René Magritte’s This Is Not a Pipe. 

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Worn body extensions

Although I’m just standing straight up with a simple pose, each extension had to be connected to other members of the group by contorting our bodies during our Twistagrambookchat presentation. There was a big factor of failure because we put each extension without thinking too much of how exactly each piece would connect and just how much we would have to twist and contort to connect to each other. This adds a layer of how there is failure in trying to connect with people on social media. To connect, but not really connect.