Daisy Iverson: I love the contrasting emotions in this image. The way the image conveys neglect and the imbalance of how we treat each other in relation to what we consider possessions is very powerful. This is especially signified in the sky of the image, and how hats of all kinds and jackets are littered throughout the world, and wasted when people need them. The way the umbrella blocks the happy child from the sad child, while keeping the happy child happy, feels ironic to me. I enjoy the choice to only give color to certain objects and plants. By using this technique the artist is able to make the significant features of the work pop, such as the clothing on the children, and in the sky. Furthermore, the way that the nature closest to the sad child is in color gives me a sense of what she feels connected to, such as the tree trunk and leaves that form a blanket, and the bright yellow flower. And if you look at the highlighted nature around the happy child, you can see a black tree that has fallen over, and is out of her perception. This displays how the death of nature isn’t significant to the happy child’s perspective, while the sad child must rely on her fallen over tree, which has a more natural, brown color.
Pierce Manning: My favorite part about this piece is that at first glance it’s easy to confuse the child on the left to be crying. Although her head is down, the water on her face is just the rain. And if you look below that, it seems that she has made a makeshift blanket out of the leaves and the tree trunk. I feel that these two elements signify the child on the left as an aesthete, while the child on the right prefers the easy route of buying and wasting materials, without thinking of the environmental repercussions, to stay content. I feel that this is especially shown by the multiple fallen trees and disconnected branches, as well as the man-made objects that pollute the ecosystem. The colors used are pleasing as well, the way it follows the color wheel from red to blue, with yellow and green in between, is visually pleasing.
