Art Education Exploration

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Distance

I am focused on the theme of distance for my personal artwork series. I focused specifically on how distance from someone or a place does not mean the end of a connection to that person or place. It is still possible to be close over a distance. I came to Miami from New Mexico, and my girlfriend went to Chicago for school. Together we have learned that closeness is still possible over distance. Sometimes there can be more distance between two people in a room than two people 300 miles away. 

My limitations were that all of the pictures were in black and white, they were shot as square pictures, and a form of communication (text message, talking, etc...) was in all of them. 

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1 | Dear Reina...

This photo is about sending a letter. It is taped to a closed door, waiting for its recipient. For me, the act of writing a letter makes me feel both closer and further away from the person I am sending it to. I wanted to show that here by taping it to the recipient's door, but not giving any hint of being able to see inside. This reinforces the idea of feeling close, but really having no access or contact with the actual person.

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2 | Reminders

This image is about reminders of the places I am distant from. Originally I was only going to feature the note. Then I remembered the flag of New Mexico on my wall. I took a picture with the computer screen blank, but then I remembered my background is a picture of the Sandia Mountains. I have all of these reminders of home and my relationship to keep me grounded across distance. They help keep me connected when I am away.

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3 | Date Night

In this picture I captured the normal setup for a Skype Date. I wanted to make the computer look small in the picture, to emphasize that Skype is a small substitute for being together in person. I put it in the middle of the picture though, because the few hours over Skype can be the focus of my whole week.  The saying on the poster is fitting to have about the rest of the scene, because belief and trust are things that have to be overarching if a distance relationship is going to survive.

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4 | Open Lines

This photo is about constant communication over distance. The title refers to open lines of communication, because that is something that is very comforting. I am always happy to get texts from Reina, and that is how we both keep up with what is going on in each other's lives. I placed the phone on the study materials to show that the communication is there in almost every situation. I also wanted to give the idea that I dropped what I was doing when the message came through, because that is usually the case. 

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5 | Are We There Yet??

This picture is about the feeling of excitement building up to when I get to go and visit Reina. It is also about how long the week feels leading up to hopping on the bus to Chicago. I placed the bus ticket and my bags next to the door to show I am ready to go, even though I might not be leaving for a while. The whole week and throughout the bus ride over I am always thinking, “Are we there yet??” In terms of composition, the bus ticket is my means of communication. I wanted to have everything ready to go, but clearly be still to show the waiting before the trip.

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6 | Mind in One Place, Heart in Another

Full disclosure: I am titling this post with a Drake lyric. But the he actually encapsulates the feelings of a long distance relationship very well with that line. I took this picture from the bus window as I was leaving Chicago. I am not sure why, but it just seems to fit the feeling of leaving to begin the distance again. When I look at this picture initially my eye is drawn to the white space on the buildings and the sky. But as I look into the darker areas of the photograph I see the line of people waiting for the bus (Reina is down there texting me). I also see the row of bus seats in front of me. I like that Reina is not the focus of the picture, because that is how it is when I come back to Miami. She blends into the crowd, and that is the reality of being in a long distance relationship. To me, this photograph encapsulates that feeling very well. 

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7 | Daily Life

With this image I wanted to capture a normal night for me here at Miami. Here I am about to sit down for dinner, and watching basketball. One of the most difficult things about distance is missing the daily aspects of each other’s lives. I took this picture to send to Reina, because pictures help a lot. They give a glimpse into what the other person is up to, but there is so much that we do not get to experience together. I wanted to illustrate that with this picture. All of my other pictures have been focused on us and our relationship, and this picture represents all of the little things we miss out on by being far away. 

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8 | So Happy Together

This photo clearly breaks the limitations I set for my art series. It is also markedly different from all of the other pictures in the series. I did this because being back together is so different and wonderful! I wanted to show how different it is. Sometimes when we are apart it feels like I am living in black and white. For this image I bumped up the color because that’s how it feels when we are back together.