Final Project: Anthropocene Identity

For this project we were tasked with bringing together a collection of at least three objects representing society/culture in 2019 and place them within a single piece. We were asked to use at least one method of adhering previously learned in class to invoke a loose interpretation of a fossil found 1000 years from now.

The concept of this piece was built on the idea of "Selfy Culture" that is prevalent in modern day society. The 2019 objects used were a coffee mug with the words "Peace, Joy, Love, Family and Coffee", an iPhone, sunglasses and press on nails. I used these objects specifically to either highlight or exemplify common selfy tendencies. The coffee mug in particular was used because of the wording "Peace and Love" which is currently a fad to have printed on numerous kinds of objects.

Selfy Culture is argued as either an example of vanity or promotion of self love. With this piece I wanted to almost make fun of this argument, bring into question what will be written in the history books about this phenomenon or even if it would be important enough to be mentioned at all. The use of an almost full sized skeleton was to directly point out that this is a human tendency, this piece is centered around what will be left of modern human culture.

 When taking selfies people generally try to make themselves look better than they might in real life using a number of filters, angles, lighting ect. In order to create a visual representation of this I decided to crystallize the entire skeleton in simple Borax crystals I made at home. I also embedded small LED fairy lights throughout the skeleton, fixed a fake flower crown to the skull and glued fake nails onto the fingers. 

The entire thing is adhered together using a base of spray foam and then covered with paper mache mulch. The mulch has been died with black chalk paint and textured in a way to resemble lava rock. I also added more crystal to the mulch and moss to give it a cave feeling, as if the skeleton had been underground so long it formed together with the walls. 

During the critique and discussion of this piece it was pointed out the similarities to Pom Pay mummies. One comment was drawing parallels to the famous "Two Lovers" mummies and how this piece could be seen as the modern day "Two Lovers" but with the person and their phone/self instead of another actual human. From a technical stand point this piece could have benefited from a longer construction time, I am afraid that in the end I was rushed a bit too much and the finish suffered from it. However given the time and my lack of experience in sculptural work this piece turned out the way I had intended. 

Experiment 3: Adhering 

For this project we were asked to take two unlike objects and adhere them together using melting, weaving, or paper matche. The idea was to create a focus point using the adhering process and the relationship between the two objects.

When thinking about this project I wanted to use a material that was seemingly useless, something that didn't have a purpose. Upon further debate I realize that junk mail was something that the majority of people end up throwing away, despite the fact that as a paper product it is easily recyclable. For the second material I decided to use tree branches and leaves. 

I cut up the junk mail envelopes and wove them in between the tree branches to create a relationship between them. The envelopes are made of paper, and paper is made out of tree's yet these two objects are no longer similar at all. I added dead leaves to the envelopes to represent the fact that paper, even though made from trees, can no longer grow or develop organically. The leaves themselves have been dipped in polypropylene to give them a transparent artificial feeling. 

Experiment 2: Sewing

For this project we were asked to first choose and adjective from the provided list and then find a piece of material that personified that word. From there we were to change the material to illustrate the opposite of our chosen adjective using sewing methods demonstrated in class.

My chosen adjective was "bland" and the material I started out with was a standard cotton napkin. I chose this word because I felt like it accurately described that material as there was nothing interesting or special about a square beige napkin. When I started thinking about what the opposite of 'bland' was I realized that there was no true binary to it, as something being considered bland is a matter of opinion. So instead I tried focusing on the opposite of the napkin as a whole, and how to turn something that was perfectly functional in its intended use, if not a bit lack luster, into something more provocative.

First off I decided to cut the napkin in half, breaking the geometric quality of it by cutting a weird curvy edge. From there I sewed on a metallic trim in blue and silver to the curved edges to make it stiff. I also sewed on feathers and a rhinestone boarder along the top. I chose these materials because they seemed frivolous and purely decorative. In fashion, rhinestones and feathers are usually added to clothing to make it appear 'fancier' or more 'glamorous'. These materials also give off a fun and very feminine vibe. By using them I wanted to create a sort of juxtaposition, of these seemingly fancy materials being placed on a very plain and simple napkin. To take it even further away from its original function I layered the two halves of fabric on top of each other, cinched places of the fabric to create rushing and added feathers in between. 

Experiment 1: Dying

For this project we were asked to dye a single piece of fabric using natural and synthetic dyes. The concept for this experiment was Natural vs Unnatural, displaying both side by side on one piece. We were able to use either subtraction methods or addition methods of changing the fabric.

When presented with the idea of "Unnatural" my first thought was mechanical or industrial. Upon thinking more about industrial settings this led me to the idea of cities and all the things that come with them. For the unnatural side I tried to express smog, crowded streets, clutter, and the general chaotic and grey feeling of a large metropolis. For this I used acrylic fabric paint, metallic acrylic ink in the colors dark grey, blue and light grey. To emphasis the steel manufactured nature of cities I also added brass studs and steel safety pins to the piece.

For the "Natural" side I wanted it keep it fairly simple, using limited amounts of color in really loose and organic shapes. To achieve this I first sprayed the whole side with bleach using a spray bottle to give it a blotchy appearance. Then i gathered the material in bunches and very lightly dabbed deluded green and yellow India ink on just the very tops of the mounds and let it set for a while before unraveling. I wanted to use green and yellow because both of these colors appear commonly in nature; they can express leaves, flowers or even sunshine. The addition of the red was to to serve as a color contrast but also because this deep vibrant red is also an occurring color in nature.