Creative Reinterpretation and Metabolization of Public Art Lectures
A digital zine created as a final project for a Visual and Critical Studies course
In my Methodologies course for Visual and Critical Studies, we regularly attended public talks from artists working across different disciplines. For my final project in the course, I constructed this 20 page digitally-created ‘zine that summarizes work I’ve done to distill, integrate and re-imagine the material covered in the seven key events attended in Fall 2023.
I combined course materials and my own written materials with technological interventions to distill the semester’s work down into keywords. I then further utilized technology to generate new themes from those keywords. Taking all of that material, I then set about to creatively reinterpret the major themes through two poem/prose works of creative writing.
The purpose of this was to metabolize the major themes running throughout the semester’s studies by not merely summarizing them but drawing connections and then cementing those connections into my long term memory through enacting my own creative expression.
I’m curious if you enjoy this glimpse into my process?
Poem 1:
Within frames delineating narratives, cultural tapestries unfurl,
Anthropological paradigms transcend mere linguistic confines,
Unraveling intricate complexities of human existence.
Rooted wisdom and ancestral legacies persist,
Community interwoven in the fabric of California's ethos,
Symbols of erudition adorning gates to expansive thought,
Artistic installations encapsulating the essence of memory.
Contemplations delve into the multifaceted spectrum of human endeavor,
Aesthetics birthed within the nebulous expanse of creative spaces,
Narratives communicated through brush strokes, echoing silent narratives,
Whispers of climate threaded within enigmatic signs.
Performance becomes a medium for the unfurling of resilience,
A city's historical narrative embedded in the tapestry of a broader world,
Riotous upheavals etched in the annals of turbulent pasts,
Food transmuted into an art form, a lasting narrative.
Beneath the surface, tales emerge, illustrating abstract concepts of freedom,
Exhibitions resonate in their trifold conceptualization.
Traversing a cultural odyssey through interwoven strands,
Labor emerges as the sturdy backbone within the societal framework,
Challenges posed to conventional norms by questioning narratives,
The intersection of language and political discourse, enigmatic performances.
Animals portrayed within artistic compositions, resonating the echoes of a pandemic,
History inscribed within the narratives of health and well-being,
Parallel historical cycles etched into the fabric of societal memory,
Human stories eternally etched within the fabric of existence.
Echoes of presentations resonate, embracing the lore of indigenous cultures,
Whispers of marginalized communities find resonance within the artistic realm.
A mosaic of interlaced narratives, weaving a complex symphony of existence.
Poem 2:
Seemingly disparate voices from across disciplines and cultures speak, a singular story unfolds within the corridors of one institution, one city, one world. The raw fabric of work, resonating with the multifaceted lives, struggles, and triumphs of people across cultures and continents and creativity. A literary piece of magic, of inquiry, exploring the intricate nuances embedded within questions of roles, identities, and visual language.
Politics choreograph their intricate number, dancing carefully in the theater of societal perception. The historical rhythm reverberates through presentations, the echoes of indigenous tales and marginalized voices intricately interwoven within this vivid mosaic of existence. The exhibit space, transformed into a sanctuary, becomes a refuge where the human spirit confronts the reverberations of the past, peeling back the layers of societal strife and revealing the indomitable resilience that thrives within, that expresses itself through art.
My journals transcend the realm of mere records, morphing into vivid works of artistry, chronicling the silent struggles of animals and humans, their images etched deeply into the collective memory of our history, a history that lives and breathes still today. Nestled within my papers, meticulously compiled and crafted, lies glimpses of the connections and patterns, the kaleidoscopic facets of the human condition. Many words in many languages form a collective narrative that is impossible to express in mere words alone.
