This project was a collaboration between Forrest, Jessica, Elise L, and Elise G. We were tasked with creating a collaborative ‘map’ that mapped our chosen subject visually. Our artwork looks to map emotional responses as both undulating lines and colours. We hope that through this map, people can learn and more powerfully engage with their emotions, which are not as one-sided, on-or-off, or black-and-white as they might first appear.
Before deciding on our final idea, our group had a variety of concepts that explored human actions and responses. Some of these ideas surrounded movement, energy, and sound. One common thread between these ideas was the variability and shift observed in different human actions. We were interested in mapping this shift. After exploring human emotions, we decided that emotions would allow us to visually display an aspect of shifting human nature through multiple ways. We chose to focus on displaying these emotions through ‘waves’ (inspired by our research into sound waves) and colour. We found that not only do people connect colors to emotions, but colour can instill an emotion within humans. After doing more research, we decided on what colour and what wave motion would represent our chosen emotions.
Despite throwing around the idea of a 3-Dimensional or circular artwork, we felt the straight nature of the artwork would allow the viewer to see the shift in emotions. Varying waves highlight how our body naturally reacts when under the influence of an emotion. The paint on the waves was blended to represent the fact that emotions are not cut and dry, but rather spectrums that we engage with on multiple levels and in different ways. Sometimes, we may be feeling multiple emotions at once. Paint was applied to the face in a fashion that organically reflects the emotion it represents. There is a connection between facial expression, wave, colour, and paint application. We hope this synthesis of different components leaves the viewer with a newfound understanding of the multifaceted nature of emotions.
