My research terms are vintage, industrial, temperate, fantasy and unknown. If it were 2040 I would wish to remember 2020 fondly because although it has been a rollercoaster of emotions and quite nearly apocalyptic, it's helped me grow and it hasn't been all bad. There's definitely more obstacles in the way of success this year than most from recent memory, but I don't think I'd want to think of it any differently than how it was and has been. Before starting at SAIC my most vivid school memories were online quarantine classes so I've definitely cheered up about having them in person. Politically it isn't even interesting at this point, that's definitely something I wouldn't be as interested in recalling because it's nearly as bad as the virus.
“We’re trying to keep our heads above water without drowning. We are scared. We’re trying to fight for everyone else’s life, but we also fight for our lives as well.” - Arabia Mollette, emergency medical doctor in New YorkHopefully 20 years from now these disasters would have been neutralized and those in power focused on keeping peace, and I'd be living here producing stuff in the fashion district. I'd hope to be close with my friends in the area as well as the communities that make up Chicago, meeting up for coffee on chilly mornings.
My project will be a collage of 36 Post-It notes depicting a fire hydrant, as it’s very common and almost natural to find one in Chicago. I wanted my piece to reflect the city of Chicago without blatantly saying it since part of the process of my project would be to take a part of Chicago with me. By creating a Chicago inspired art piece, I could install and de-install the work only to take it with me when I head home and reinstall it in my room back in Minneapolis. I’m flying back home so I can’t bring anything huge with me, but what I can definitely bring is a numbered series of Post-It Notes. I decided on 36 notes because it was manageable while also being a round number that would make for a square mosaic. Sometimes the larger dimensions lead to issues when re-installing and I expect to have enough space within the canvas made up of all of the notes to portray the hydrant in good detail. I feel as though since I’ve grown up and moved out of the house, it only feels right to bring a part of Chicago back home with me. I’m not big on souvenirs and neither is my family, so I’m deciding to channel my own style through the art because that work can stay with my family in my home while I’m away. Aside from my recent experience in this medium a source I would refer to is the Western Pole art page, embracing similar values to my project while also being more of a gallery than my concept. Nevertheless it is a source of inspiration for how reliant it is on the community and how it depends on the people of Chicago to give it life. If I was told to bring a part of Minneapolis back to Chicago I wouldn’t know what to bring, but Western Pole’s urban take on a communal art gallery that completely takes place on an ordinary wooden pole is such a beautiful concept to me. I hope by sharing a piece of Chicago through my lens to have returned home with a different approach than I had before I’d left.
- what's good
- in the hood
- have we met
- i wish we would :(
