Violetta

project proposal For my final project I want to do something similar to my photo book. I had a wonderful time creating it and taking the pictures. I got experienced and explore the concept of simplicity in art turning that into simplicity of art within blackness.  My photos are simple in nature, with it just being faces. However, having a photo book with just faces, unnamed but titled was interesting to me. I felt like McLuhan explained what I’m to achieve with the quote  “Ours is a brand-new world of all-at-onceness… Time has ceased, Space has vanished… we have had to shift our stress of attention from action to reaction.".  McLuhan explains how generations have shifted to an overwhelming sense of things going on. We only have time to react, sometimes not even that, instead of acting on the things that matter. I want to show so many pictures that it gives that “ all-at-onceness” vibe, however, while keeping it simple brings action to my point.  ^something like this ...

I’m almost done with my photo book. The process has been going pretty well in my opinion. My photos are simple in nature, with it just being faces. However, having a photo book with just faces, unnamed but titled is interesting to me. I want to explore the simplicity of blackness. How black joy exists in the simplistic meaning of art. I felt like McLuhan explained what I’m to achieve with the quote  “Professionalism is environmental. Amateurism is anti-environmental. Professionalism merges the individual into patterns of the total environment”  McLuhan explains how there are rules to everything, even unspoken ones. Although, rules of what’s right and wrong or what’s professional and,  amateur are built in our societal environment, it is good to break those rules. I want to break the rules of having to have something “profound” to considered art. I find art in the  simplicities of life and want to show that off.

https://on.soundcloud.com/ZmN1HHhhynzL56wvNA I had a lot of trouble figuring out which sound I wanted to use. I had a started a project, but I did not like it when I started. That all changed when I was on the phone with my best friend. I started laughing at unfiltered we were with each other and knew I needed to use this. The natural order and ease of our conversations reminded me of the McLuhan “We employ visual and spatial metaphors for a great many everyday expressions… We are so visually biased that we call our wisest men visionaries, or seers!” I felt like a one of the “wise men visionaries” McLuhan referenced. I take so much sound for granted. It was apparent when we watched the videos in class about sound. Sound is everywhere, even in the minor ways. I wanted to showcase how McLuhan meant that we take so much for granted, even spatial moments with friends, that when we do notice it feels like a new discovery. 

  Black girl joy- 20 photos of black women at Lawrence university smiling  When creating this, I wanted the pictures to tell an obvious story. After class, I kept thinking of how the artist was there in the world just capturing the world the way it was. Originally, I wanted to capture small moments of black women laughing in motion, but I ended up falling into the moment myself. However, I was still stuck on how a smile could tell a story. There is a trope that black people do not smile in photos because there was nothing to be happy about. This sweep of photos was to change that narrative. I wanted to capture an award-winning smile of black women, because amongst ourselves we always find a reason to be happy. I simply went up to random black women asked if I could take a picture of them for my project.  “The environment as a processor of information is propaganda. Propaganda ends where dialogue begins. You must talk to the media, not to the pro-grammar. To talk to the pr...

https://youtu.be/6i-cnd_rFiI        I wanted to use some component of poetry in my work. Poetry comes of naturally, the way the words flow made me immediately of trees. My thought process was all over the place but if I had to put it words it would be more of a word diagram.        For example:   Poetry - naturally - nature - trees- hair – natural- nature  From this string of words, I intended to create a poem of my hair in its natural state with clips of nature behind it. I like the similarly of natural but the contrast of the context of the word.  “The stars are so big, The Earth is so small, Stay as you are.” (McMullen)   In the context of my video, I thought about how my hair is so small compared to the intensity of nature. However, the stay as you are part really stuck with me. As big as the stars may seem, the earth is small because we are on it. Subjectively, my world is my hair, and I would love to explore it in artisti...

     My name is Violetta / Vi and three things that I always loved were poetry, music and black people. You will never hear me not talking about these topics.        I love poetry: the way words ebb and flow to create emotion on a paper. It's always been an artistic escape for me. I had started writing when I was 12, using it as just place to write my emotions. I put so much restraint on myself, making sure everything rhymed and it was a certain length. But as I continued writing I became freer. I write to get my emotions out; however they want to come out. A lot of times I write about my experience being black and Queer. I adore my Black culture and always find ways to honor it in my writing. Same with music. I can talk about song lyrics and what they mean to me for hours. Channeling these strong emotions towards music, I usually find a lyric I like and use that as inspiration for a poem .    “Any understanding of social and cultur...