Objects:
- Black Cloth covering a table
- White box (made with the use of a Laser Cutter)
- Opening in Box: Viewers get to see what is inside the box
- Chair: Where viewers are placed while looking through the box
The intention my group and I had for the first part of the project was to create a personal perception of what we felt, and what we saw at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
Since the four of us come from different backgrounds, morals, and traditions, we decided to create a theme for our project: Mixed cultures. The following theme went perfectly along with what the cemetery holds: Mix of generations, nationality, interest, time, culture, etc…
At the cemetery, we felt a barrier between us, and the dead: The tombs; which is why we decided to re-create a tomb that would combine the four of us.
The tomb itself is a representation of the Pere Lachaise, as well as death. However, in order to portray a ‘tour’ of how we felt, and what we thought of the Pere Lachaise, we decided to represent ourselves as the dead, with objects that would symbolize each one of us via our mixed backgrounds.
My object was a paint brush as I chose to be Serge Belloni, known as the ‘French Painter’. I created a whole story behind that name, claiming that the painter would like to be buried surrounded by his paintings, colors, and a world of creativity.
The small opening of the box is justified by the barrier we felt while looking at the tombs, yet feeling the presence of the dead around us.
The opening is a way of limiting viewers as they look through the box: As they look through our personal tour of the cemetery, the symbols we chose to create for our own deaths, the cultures that differ us, yet the location (tomb) that unites us.
All of the above are a representation of the Pere Lachaise:
Box: Tomb, symbol of death
Opening of the box: Barrier created by tomb
Objects: Different cultures and backgrounds influencing how each one of us ( or the characters we created for ourselves) would like to be buried; as well as the mixed cultures and nationalities of the dead at the cemetery.
Chair: Too limit the viewers position and placement as they look through the box which goes along with the limitation we felt while looking at specific tombs.
In order to enhance this project, we decided to take it to a bigger scale, relay our interpretations of the cemetery in a less concrete/ direct way. We had thought of projecting videos of the cemetery while reading out poems that describe our individual perception of the Pere Lachaise.
Reflections we got in class were mostly about how this part of the project was too blunt, concrete and small. Our classmates found that the project did not relay the meaning we have created behind the white box, and therefore should make it clearer without having it be too concrete (just like the white box). In order to represent individuality, ( individuality given our mixed cultures) yet the unity that is The Pere Lachaise cemetery, we should each represent our objects In the same way, yet have them be different at the same time. (Rather than each have four different objects that do not go along together).
