Next Projects

I have had some ides for new projects in mind, and was able to develop them further during my talk with Deborah last week. The first is one that began a few weeks ago, but I have just begun to create my mock up to test out what the materials can do. Looking through photographs of my great grandfather Kiyoshi, one can tell that he was very fond of nature and cultivating plants and vegetables. This came across to me as a major part of his personal identity-- one that was shaped through his experience as an immigrant. When he first came to the United States in 1912, he became a farmer to earn a living. He and his family became very successful until, of course, they were forced into concentration camps, leaving their livelihoods and physical belongings (including his land) behind. However, in his later years after leaving the camps, his love of growing plants stayed with him and there are countless pictures of him and his gardens. I noticed a parallel between some of these photographs and found two almost identical scenes where he took a picture of himself standing in front of his handiwork. I decided I wanted to put them into the same context to emphasize this continuity throughout his life, and the rare occurrence when a part of your identity stays with you so closely. Not to say that this aspect of his identity was static, as I do not believe it can be, but rather that it actually adapted to his lifestyle numerous times. It first suited him as a farmer and then changed when he lived in an apartment in Chicago where there was little space and he climbed onto the roof to string his morning glories in beautiful arrangements. This is the photoshop file I created to try and envision what the final product would look like:

Obviously, I knew the end product would not be so perfectly transparent, which is why I made a smaller test version to see what would happen. I finished removing the paper from the transfers yesterday and it is much more opaque. Currently I am playing with lighting effects through the two layers of plexi, and am actually removing parts of the transfer to reveal the image beneath. I am learning a great deal about how I want to execute it on a larger scale.

The other project is going off of Kristina's suggestion that I use more abstract patterning to stand on its own, I wanted to create a standing screen out of plexi that featured many overlaid patterns and designs. But, when Deborah and I talked, she mentioned that being too abstract may not get the message across and suggested that I choose a more vague, non-specific photograph to use as the base. We decided that a desolate landscape of the camp might be suitable, as it is not completely obvious and also does not come from my family photographs (photos weren't allowed in internment camps anyway). Currently I am researching photographs that were mostly commissioned by the government of Tule Lake, where my family spent most of their time. I came across two photographers, Robert Ross and Jack Iwata who took photographs at Tule Lake. Robert Ross has a published book of these photographs but it is not in any libraries. I am continuing my research and also about the legal usage of photographs that are not my own.