Senior Studio Wall
This first project entailed filling an entire wall in my senior studio to begin exploring concepts that I want to pursue for my senior exhibition piece in the spring. The wall needed to include a mixture of typographic works, image-based works, and a combination of both, as well as digital works, analog works, and works that combined both approaches. I focused mostly on the theme of emotion, especially grief due to the change and loss that I have experienced in the past two years. In total, there are sixty-seven designs represented on the wall.
Above: full wall as exhibited. Below: individual digital designs.
Confronting Reality
To fill the second wall of my senior studio space, I created a work drawing from my digital collage explorations on the first wall.
Grief is a fragile, delicate process that requires deep, honest introspection. There is no clear-cut timeline for healing, and the accompanying emotions often flow into each other. Utilizing photos I took over the past two years and my written thoughts as text, this is a collaged, seven-step progression showing how I deal with grief due to changing times and friendships. The first five designs depict the five stages of grief proposed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The last two designs represent additional stages I have discovered in my personal grief journey: self-forgiveness for circumstances I could not control, and longing for times prior to relational change.
Revealed
For the final project of my capstone class, I created a digitally collaged motion design that explored the duality of concealing and revealing emotions. I utilized a small projector to display this video with original sound on the wall of my senior studio space.
Revealing hurt is often difficult and painful, but this process can provide an opportunity for healing and growth. In this way, vulnerability is worthwhile.