Intervention Poster

    

Female sticker on pole.

    Using clear packing tape, wax paper from my kitchen, and a handful of paint and alcohol markers, I created a series of low-budget stickers to spread feminist messages around my town. The end goal aim I had, eventually, was to make my intervention a combination of two of the main sources we cover in class, Kimberly Drew’s story in This Is What I Know About Art, and the Guerilla Girls group. Truthfully, at first, I had only wanted to create a couple simple straight-forward stickers decorated with common messages you hear from feminist movements that I can spread around. Not to say the simple things can’t be impactful, I just didn’t have anything specific to say, and wanted to make my project clear-cut. Kimberly Drew included in her book “... She asked me to think about what I wanted to say, and, more importantly, how I wanted it to be interpreted.” (This is What I Know About Art.) While this quote refers to a specific situation she found herself in, the words she writes are valuable. So, I took a page out of her book, literally, and created a few more stickers about female artists and creatives. The Guerilla Girls have been spreading messages about female artists for a much longer and worthwhile time, and while I couldn’t do something as magnificent, I included a few stickers reminiscent of them. The black and white text stickers specifically. Instead of getting rid of the stickers I already made, I just included the old and new ones together. 

    Since my stickers are relatively small individually, they may seem a bit too different from another when looking closely. Like, each sticker is part of a different series. However, I feel that when you consider all the stickers together, they form one very clear image. “Despite the contemporary visionary feminist thinking that makes clear that a patriarchal thinker need not be a male, most folks continue to see men as the problem of a patriarchy. This is simply not the case. Women can be wedded to patriarchal thinking and action as men.” (Understanding Patriarchy.) Together, the stickers rebel against patriarchal thinking in a general sense. 

    After creating these stickers, I quickly got rid of them. Some of these stickers were eventually put up where it was able, to be seen and interacted, in a public space. And some were given away directly to the public for  strangers to keep.

Collection of stickers.

Collection of stickers.

Guerilla Girls inspired sticker on pole.

Intervention Poster

Photo taken at the park.

Photo taken beside a building.

I chose to make my protest poster about the topic of illegal immigration. It’s a very important topic to me and has an impact on my life as well as close friends. When people think of illegal immigration the first group that comes to mind are Hispanics and Latinos. It’s due to this that many people constantly harass Hispanic and Latinos by calling them “illegals” and telling them to go back to their own country. However, people constantly fail to realize that illegal immigration is something that started way before Hispanics. People seem to forget that Christopher Columbus is the king of illegal immigration by coming over and “discovering” America resulting in the tragedies done to the Native American people. With this poster I hope that it creates a conversation about illegal immigration and the way people view Hispanic and Latino people because of these harmful stereotypes against us. I think signs for protests are extremely important because those help get the message across. I feel that if someone were to read just the right sign at a protest or any sort of movement, they could get inspired by the words that are written down. So many signs are cleverly written that help people who may not understand the movement finally understand and they could possibly try to join in as well. I’m proud of the poster that I made and I hope that I was truly able to spark a conversation between people who have strong opinions about this topic and hopefully change the perspective of others.

I think that the quotes from John Bergers’ “Ways of Seeing” greatly captures the idea as to why publicity for protest art is something important. The first quote is, “Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy” (pg. 11). This quote connects to our assignment because protesting can cause people to consume what message is attempting to say and reach the people. Especially with social media being so influential toward people, it’s a big influence when it comes to big consumers. The second quote is, “Publicity exerts an enormous influence and is a political phenomenon of great importance” (pg: 13). I feel that this quote perfectly summarizes as to why protesting is so important. With great publicity for a movement or a protest of any kind, people can feel influenced to join in and fight for the cause. If enough people join in, great change can be made.

Intervention poster. Public pic pending

 For my poster I really wanted to emphasize reflection on mental health in the effect of capitalism. Often times people appear well balanced when their struggle with mental health goes much deeper than just individual struggle. This has become so common and prevalent among the Working class that keep capitalism afloat. Mental health struggles can stem from hereditary conditions to an effect of environment. That being said the physical and emotional demands of our position in capitalistic society were not made for people who already struggle with mental health, disabilities or any other factors that cannot be beneficial to exploitation of the working class. 

In John Berger ‘ways of seeing’ he states, “the pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowledged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the individual feel powerless. He lives in the contradiction between what he is and what he would like to be. Either he then becomes fully conscious of the contradiction and it’s causes, and so joins the political struggle for a full democracy, which entails, amongst other things, the overthrow of capitalism; or else he lives, continually subject to an envy which, compounded with his sense of powerlessness, dissolves into recurrent day-dreams.” (Pg 148). To break down what Berger is saying you have to understand that our idea of image is sold to us with publicity and consumerism. To sell things we need to project this idea of a happier more successful you. In order to keep people working to uphold the top beneficials of capitalism we need to be sold this idea that we can either be that beneficiary or be happy being the little guy. But the struggle of being overworked and under payed, the effects of socioeconomic disadvantages, is in constant battle with what we are being sold. Berger suggests that people who realize this either choose to keep this ideal day dream at personal cost, or come to the conclusion that the only fix is a change to the system. In my opinion and experience both drain you mentally in different ways. 

In my project the text on the mirror is to allow the viewer to truly reflect on their own state of happiness and struggle. Although the message of why that may be is open ended as a stand alone poster, self reflection on your own mental state may lead to many of the same root issues.

WARNING! people in mirror may be struggling more than they appear. 

Too Much! Robert Lach

I chose this piece by Robert Lach because of how much it spoke to me environmentally. I think it introduces new ways to think about subjects like environmental preservation more specifically recycling. I also believe this says a lot about consumer culture and what we give value. The details on this piece give off a very battered, beaten, and abandoned look. The suitcase looks worn out and parts of the house are being held together by thread, when things look like that most people will perceive it as garbage, something with no purpose, a useless novelty to be thrown out but Robert Lach brings it to a light where it can be shown to have purpose.

This concept is actually something people in developing countries/third world countries have been doing for a long time to make their living situation better, add more to their culture or just make light out of a bad situation. In multiple cities across Brazil typically found on the outskirts of said cities you’ll find favelas, they can be known as slums as well. A proponent factor of these favelas forming would be slavery. After they were freed in 1888 they were denied many rights, and ultimately were forced to make their own communities. 

The creativity from back then didn’t go away. It’s still very prevalent now, since then Brazil has been industrialized and more favelas have been developed and more have had advancements but their living situation is still nothing compared to the ones that live outside of the favelas. People in the favela’s today are still making use of the “mess” around them and turning it into things like windows for their homes, doors, etc..

One man named Paulo cleaned up an entire hill scattered with garbage and turned it into a garden that can produce fruit. I believe this is something that 1st world countries can learn a lot from, and that it would change us environmentally and our entire philosophy of what’s valuable in our society.

Typically most Americans give value to name brand things like Louis V, Chanel, Gucci, etc.. if we had the same mindset as people in Brazil for example I think it would save people a lot of money and in terms of environmental change people would pick up garbage like no tomorrow. Instead of finding value in stores like Hollister, Zara, Express etc.. people would shop the streets and make the most out of the garbage, the normal unnatural surroundings and ultimately make their environment more natural. 

This piece spoke to me in more ways than one, took me out of my comfortable American lifestyle and made me think a little bit more about how I used to live when I was younger and borderline homeless in Newark. It kind of hit me with a different type of nostalgia, and made me see the happiness/beauty in something not meant to be viewed that way.

 

 

Poster Intervention due October 20th, 2021

 

Hudson Park, Bayonne
Fall 2021

Hudson Park, Bayonne
Fall 2021

I decided to do my project on pollution and global warming. As we all know, people litter daily and this hurts our ecosystem. We, as Gen Z, are responsible to fix the problem that the generations before us created. I chose a certain area in my hometown, Bayonne, to post my posters and activism. I chose Hudson Park, located on Avenue A/Boulavard in Bayonne. I chose this location because they have spent hundreds to thousands of dollars on creating a beautiful county park but failed to fix the most breathtaking part of the park: the Hudson River. This river is constantly filled with garbage and it takes away the beauty the park brings. The garbage piles up on the rocks and it attracts rodents. I want the people of my town to recognize this and ask for change. It is time to get started and clean our only home! Though science works on trying to get our populations to Marz and creating a home for us, I do not believe they will complete this in time. We only have one home we can count on and we are destroying it before our very eyes. We are the parasite on the planet and it is slowly choking us out. We need to clean it, nurture it, and care for it like we care for our sick and loved ones. 

As said in the past reading, Photography, the photographs we take show the culture of our world, but it also shows the destruction of our world. In my bottom picture, with the green index cards, I tried to take a picture of not just the poster but a bit of the trash that was laying on the rocks. Though there are times where the trash can be worse, I wanted everyone to see a glimpse of what it is we are truly doing to the world. If you did not already know, during the pandemic when we were forced to stay indoors all day for weeks on end, our ozone layer started to fix itself. Why? Because we, humans, did not cause pollution every day. We were not using our vehicles, our factories, or anything that hurts the plants so, with time, it started to heal on its own. We need to understand that some things are worth the cost. We need to switch to things that are healthy for our environment and lower the costs to that everyone, no matter the social status or the money in your pocket, can afford to use products that help heal the planet and our home. 

Gallery Exhibition Essay

 How much is too much exactly? What is an acceptable measurement to be just right? Just where do things get out of hand? If I drop a package of Mentos in a full two liter bottle of soda, what would happen?  Aside from the last question, all of them can be answered at the gallery at New Jersey City University Too Much curated by Professor Eileen Ferara and Professor Doris Cacoilo. This exihibit show cases how much waste we create everyday and how it can effect us. By using the everyday garbage, the artists in this exhibit have turned them from waste into works of art.

Looking at the art in the exhibit, the biggest, most eye catching, and most amazing piece in the exhibit in my opinion was Illuminous City by artist Poramit Thantapalit. It is made with plastic bottles, LED lights, and video projection, is 120 x 55 x 55 in, and is about $1000. The artist got inspired from the relationship and connection between humans, nature, and the surrounding such as trees, flowers, the ocean, people, and animals. They focus on using recycled and non-recycled materials for their art. They created art in all kinds of mediums such as sculpture, large instillation, photography, drawings, pottery, and much more. The work is made from small parts and goes together like a puzzle. All the pieces can be used to be their own art piece, but could be put together to form the full piece. They can even be put into any order to form a new large piece as opposed to the original intentional one.

This piece is made of over 300 Mountain Dew and 7-Up plastic bottles to make five different pieces and when put together they form a city landscape. The first piece is called Map. This was made from the plastic bottle labels of the bottles, cut, collaged, and taped together to make a city map. It's used as a wall instillation. The second piece is called Complex and is made from the middle part of the bottles, folding them into cubes, and interlocking them to form the landscape. The third is called Window is made from the middle part as well, connecting them together, forming three square window frames, installed on the ceiling. The fourth is called Tower is made from the bottom of the bottles, connected with wires, wrapping them around a wire frame column, with LED lights inside. The fifth is called Tree is made from the top of the bottles including the cap, installed on the ceiling by connecting it together with bottle caps to create tree branches.

Memes (Global Warming/ Climate Change)

 One of many problems in the world as of now is Global Warming. The immense amount of air pollution, water pollution, chemicals, etc. When we look at our animal population we tend to see that many animals are going through a lot especially  Polar Bears. Climate change has been affecting the ice causing it to melt and even disappear altogether.  “In an era shaped by the phenomenon known as globalism, the switch towards tactics has been more warmly received outside the U.S. than in it. The lack of visibility, and funding, in the United States obviously contributes to the categorical myopia of interventionist practices in U.S. museums.” Due to this, these animals are starving because they are unable to get the foods that are necessary for their everyday living. Polar bears could go extinct due to gasses in the air that are affecting them.

Activist artists such as, Ruben Orozco Loza, built a sculpture of a young girl’s head in the water to bring to light the many things that could possibly go wrong if we continue to treat our world the way we do. His sculpture brings to light that if we continue to treat our earth wrong we will continue to see rapid effects of the human population’s neglect of our climate. He chose to use the face of a young girl drawing to show that if we do not change our ways we will continue to drown in our actions.