This semester I have learned a lot about myself from the first Body Map Project to the area around me from the various mapping project based on places I travelled to both with the class and individually.

This course has mainly taught me how to cut noise and find organization even in a mass of chaos. We also were taught how to create a visual piece that sends a message without using our words.

For each field trip I used the same process to identify similarities within an area I would target and map out. I would always finish the day with hundreds of photos in my camera library to sort through and look for a common motif within them and then find a way to highlight these similarities. Sometimes I also would find a similarity while the class was walking around and take note of that and focus on those objects within the area we were shooting while also keeping my eyes peeled for other symbols of the neighborhood.

Most of my outcomes were produced digitally into a collage or some sort of layout. I do wish I had created more hand work and found different mediums instead. I definitely enjoyed the Brooklyn Waterfront project the most because the assignment was a surprise, which tested the class to feel a lot more immersed within the experience. Instead of searching and being so focused on the project, instead everyone engaged more with the trip and the location felt more personal.

I also enjoyed working on the artist book and reflecting on my works from before and after I had arrived to college and how much my work has changed. Before most of my art didn’t really seem to have a meaning behind it. They were just pictures I liked to sketch or paint. However, since coming to The New School, this semester has challenged me to really create a meaning and purpose for my pieces. I also learned how to keep revising these ideas.

This course also seemed to connect pretty well with other classes I had taken this semester. For instance, in Sustainable Systems we had worked on a project to find a company that reflected Manzini’s principle’s. What I learned through that process really helped me research more on what the team could do to find locations of improvement and think of solutions to improve the area.

I definitely think this single semester has made me dig deeper on my projects than I had ever done before and I am excited to see how else my processes will evolve in the upcoming years.