When I initially reflect on the word shift, I think of it in two main circumstances. A physical shift that includes movement, and a mental shift. A change of mindset. I believe that these two aspects of shift have been emphasized in my work both in studio and seminar this semester. Starting with my life map in Studio, I physically charted more physical shifts of health, life and death in my piece. From that point forward I moved into charting and processing mental shifts. Similarly, in Seminar my first paper about Borough Park highlighted both the physical emigration of the Jewish people from Europe and the shift of mindset this caused due to discrimination. Moving forward from this my most recent paper, “Win at Costs”, charts and unravels a mental shift within a school community in Toronto as they face the reality of the violence that has occurred.
In the past, I have made work discussing the Holocaust and therefore referenced the physical and mental shift involved in the ensuing emigration. I think in the future I would like to continue this pattern of charting and tracking physical shifts to begin to understand the mental shifts that follow them. Even, for example, my move to New York City to attend Parsons started as a physical change in location. However, in the long term the greatest impact that the move has had is not in location but in mindset. In new surroundings you think differently, meet new people, learn new things and this creates a shift far greater then anything physical.
