“Automatic”
My
mother says something constantly to my siblings and I and it goes something
like this, “you guys just think sh*t is automatic!”. She says that because we
all can sometimes take advantage (not in a good way) of all the good we have
around us. Food, water, a roof over our heads, good health, etc. and when we’re
showered with these things every day, we can lose sight of how precious they are,
and they can feel almost “automatic”. I say this to point out that we
constantly indulging in consumption and that may be the case because we all may
feel that sh*t is automatic! We have food delivery apps, grocery delivery apps,
apps for all our needs and especially our wants. Visiting the art gallery made
me ponder on the whole idea of overconsumption and how I partake in it every day.
I
could identify a piece of me in almost each piece of art at the gallery whether
it be something I witnessed or personally engage in. The show was very
eye-opening and informative, connecting overconsumption to plastic waste,
pollution, and other global issues as well as political issues. One of the projects
that I found especially joyous was made by Maggie Ens and her pieces named “GAIA
Calls Us to Healing” and “Bench For the New American Renaissance”. Maggie says in
artists’ statement “GAIA, our Mother Earth, is increasingly challenged by humanity’s
misuse of her riches.” Basic consumption must take place in some form to make
this world of ours operate every day, but overconsumption is where we go wrong
and cause conflict for ourselves and our planet. But how has it gotten this way?
Ens expresses how her muse helps her address overconsumption by saying “My Muse
nudges me to address the cycle of capitalism’s destructive power to overly
produce, endlessly consume and thoughtlessly squander Nature’s gifts.” I couldn’t
help but think about John Berger’s writing on publicity and how society is
trained, or some may say, brain-washed to seeing things in a specific way
helping us gravitate toward overconsumption. Why do we have publicity? Publicity
exists so that manufacturers can continue to produce and make money which entails
us, consumers, to over consume. Maggie Ens’ inspiration, execution, and the materials
used by her all express her want for healing and restoration of balance to our
home.
Bringing
the light of overconsumption to not just an object but a living human being was
one subject that I never had deeply thought about before. The subject is
multi-layered and as I began to read Mollie Thonneson’s artist statement, I
couldn’t help but to dive deep into the subject. Thonneson’s project included
pieces made from recycled lingerie and party dresses portrays the “narrative
about abusive relationships and what role our consumer society plays in perpetuating
that aggressive behavior”. Mollie’s pieces not only talk about sexual abuse,
but child sexual abuse presenting a piece called “Just Close Your Eyes” which
uses recycled lingerie fit for children. I began thinking about patriarchy and
the possibility of an overconsumption of that belief. Can one believe that the
consumption of people is acceptable because they feel more dominant than them? The
answer to this question has portrayed itself through history and present-day that
they most definitely can. We live in a system of patriarchy “that insists males
are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak,
especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the
weak and to maintain the dominance through various forms of psychological
terrorism and violence”. If one is consumed by the thoughts and/or feelings
that they can and must express dominance over the weaker can quickly poison
them into consuming that being. Mollie Thonneson refers to our culture and
economy as “a culture obsessed with self-gratification and power, and an economy
fueled on appealing to our base instincts as sexual beings” and this statement
cannot be any less from the truth. A culture concerned with power instead of
building each other up. We’re all concerned for our personal success and
happiness all the time that we’re less interested about what gets damaged along
the way.
I’ve
began to think about overconsumption differently these last few days mostly
because of my current mental state. I began to tie in overconsumption to my
personal and questioning if whether I am a part of the cause and ones of the
effects. Up until the middle of my senior year, I would be awakened by my
parents for school in the mornings. Taken to school by my parents and picked up
afterwards. Showered with all their everything. I had consumed them as a part
of me. I had consumed all their assistance, support, and love, but then
something happened. You realize that you are growing up and they realize that
too, and now, you are in charge of you. So, I have been thinking, can a child
overconsume their parents’ love and affection? Can that be why some people have
a difficult time jumpstarting their life and leaving the nest? I can guarantee
that the answer is yes, but I truly want to know, what is the solution?
“When autumn darkness falls, what we will remember are the small acts of kindness: a cake, a hug, an invitation to talk, and every single rose. These are all expressions of a nation coming together and caring about its people.” Jens Stoltenberg
When we think of cake we typically begin to think of birthdays, celebrations, happy moments, etc. To many other people, it is not just bout the happy moments and memories that are created and brought abroad through a delicious cake. Sometimes it is about the stories each cake tells and its representation to one’s own. Art comes in many shapes and sizes, but it is not always just about the size of a cake, but what it signifies. To be able to express art through baking and bring to life not only my own creations but the many storytellings and emotion of others. Cake has a great way of portraying the many amounts of what we consider art. Art in itself is an experience, whether it is creating the cake or even viewing it.
50 Shades of Grey? No, 50 Shades of Cake. Artist, Nancy Buchanan has created an abundance of art pieces that speak to political and social issues. Buchanan created many grayscaled cakes and pastries. Upon looking at these photos one would question why a cake would be colored in such a dim color, yet become fascinated and want to know more. When you first look at these photos you are fixated on the colors that are presented, yet the flowers that are peeking throughout this cake. I feel as though even though there could be subtle darkness it would not outcast the bright things in this case the flowers.
This project helps illustrate some points we have been discussing media images and identity because when we first look at images we tend to look at what is being portrayed and not necessarily what the origin and the background surrounding the images mean. These cakes have a gloomy presence and to me, it shows that it has a negative connotation. One of which might be the immense amount of sugary foods we consume. When we look at the many social media images, especially women, we tend to see people judge them based on what they look like. For example, Lizzo has been judged her whole career as of now because she is bigger than other artists. They would continue to judge someone because they see on the outside, but fail to realize there are layers to what a person goes through. When we look at cake we tend to look for sophistication. According to, Cake is How Memes Are Making Protest Art More Powerful, “The beauty of Dance’s sign lies in its simplicity”.
Covid 19 Vaccination Poster
Social protests have always been seen as a menace to the government or as a rebellious movement upon society. This is not the case when the greater good of all the people is in mind. In this case we are promoting getting vaccinated in the poster created above. The poster illustrates big bold colorful letters to catch the viewer's attention. In addition to the lettering I have added images as every audience is targeted differently. In this case the pictures might promote the right message to the people that getting vaccinated is safe and easy as illustrated on the picture on the right bottom corner. In addition to that I have added an arrow where it points to the sign up now.
This would have had a link that directed to the government website to find the nearest vaccinated spot. However this could not be done as the poster is a drawing and when printed out to pass around it would not serve its useful purpose. Another method was to change the font and the border sizes on each text box to catch attention and keep the audience captivated while reading. Finally a list of reasons is listed in the middle of the poster to convince the audience. One bullet appealing to the family and the emotions that come with protecting them. Another bullet refers to the vaccine being free which appeals to everyone financial situation because they have nothing to lose as they pay nothing. Along with the other reasons the objective is to convince the reader of this poster to get vaccinated.
There is still a large number of people in this country that still haven't gotten vaccinated and believed they still shouldn't. If things continue like this the pandemic will in reality never be over. There will still continue to be deaths all over the country and we still continue to watch it daily. Unless we come together as a unified country and get vaccinated together we won't be able to defeat the virus. We should not be selfish and only think about our lives but the lives of others as stated on the poster. The majority of the affected victims of Covid are the babies and the elderly and they have gotten vaccinated as they know the serious health risk they are at. Most of the young individuals will not as they think that because they are young they are invincible. In that case the virus might not hit them as hard but rather their grandma or cherished person of older age. This can be prevented, let's all get vaccinated!
The poster I have done for the second intervention is a simple one. It is meant to protest against pollution. As we all know, pollution is a problem in today's society, responsible for global warming and harm to life. Even though it is a problem, most high ranking members of society choose to ignore this. The design and simplicity of my poster is meant to capitalize on this. It being done on notebook paper represents the sense that we should not have to talk about this topic, but we must. The text simply saying "No More Pollution" is meant to give off the appearance of a child writing it to give off the sense that even children know that pollution is bad, yet many companies still continue to pollute as a result of their chase for profit. Unfortunately, I was unable to find quotes that connect the poster to the history of protest.
This is my little post-it note about Asian hate. Recently, Asian hate has begun to become very troubling ever since the Coronavirus began. This stemmed from the fact that the Coronavirus began in Wuhan City in China. This hate began to escalate due to the new norms placed on Americans like the mask mandate, and the 4 month-long quarantine which felt like 4 years. Americans were angry and had to place the blame on someone so they began harassing Asians in public and assaulting in some instances. Many Americans felt suppressed because of the restrictions placed on them. However, it is never right to redirect that hate towards a group of people. "The pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowledged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the individual feel powerless" (Berger 148). Asian hate even occurred when I was a senior in high school. Around February, a month before the mandated quarantine began an individual began making fun of Asians for eating bats, I called her out on it saying that "she has no right to badmouth other cultures and to shut up. Your laugh sounds like the hyena you are." I'm sorry, she was the only person I had trouble with in high school, and her laugh really did sound like a hyena. Yet in a sudden moment of hopelessness, I had gained a sense of pride and courage. I wasn't at all the kind of person to talk back to people, but it just happened.
This was the first time I've actually felt like I had to do something, to intervene against what she was saying. I did explain that she was wrong afterward but the feeling of having to make a change stuck with me since that day, "these things present as opposed to represent is not an accident" (Thomson 98). I think that this quote means how political art presents the problem at hand, they are showing us that there is a problem and we need change. Asian hate or any racial-related hate in fact should be completely erased. We had the civil rights movement during the 60s which was one of the greatest movements in our history. We've identified the problem and made changes, how hard is it to change?
Fifty Shades of Cake; Nancy Buchanan
