Bluestockings Bookstore
The socio-political of this bookstore stood out to me. There were many posters with references to ‘Black Lives Matter’ as well as the refugee crisis. Thus I took the conceptual part of my final piece from Bluestockings. I knew I wanted my piece to mean something in the larger world. The man sitting in the black hoodie stuck with me. Thus I decided to show figures in the form of silhouettes.
28th Street btw. 6th and 7th Ave. (Flower District)
Compared to the dim yellowish tinted lighting at the bookstore, I visited the flower district on a rainy day . The mood was mellow and solemn. The vibrant and fresh flowers caught my attention visually. However since this project was about building relations and recognising contrasts I decided to look at the darker side of the use of flowers, during memorials, burials and cremations.
Sketches and ideas
At first, I thought I would do a completely abstracted and broken up spatial piece of the bookstore, using the blue bench and the white roof as my main motif. However, I changed my mind and decided to integrate the two places by making a piece by honouring those who protect us against the enemy and often give their life up while doing so. I wanted the piece to be in a collage form with layers pasted over each other and three forms of soldiers to show the passage of time.
Digital mockup
For my mockup, I laid out the composition on photoshop with articles revolving on death as the background, with colourful realistic flowers scattered over it, in the tones of yellow-orange. I also included a silhouette of a family to see if the contrast would work on paper.
Final Work
While working on my piece, I added a few elements to compliment the ones I had earlier thought of. I layered another sheet of the same articles, but stained them with tea and burnt their edges beforehand to further exaggerate the passage of time. I chose the American military since my articles were mostly from the New York Times. Finally, adopting the beautiful flowers from the flower district I hand painted them with thick acrylic paint. The reason I chose to title this piece, ‘Obliterate the Darkness’ was because my silhouette soldiers are faceless to represent the lack of acknowledgment and admiration the society gives them. My aim was to bring attention to their honourable deeds, their motive to destroy any darkness that could affect our lives and sacrifice their own lives in exchange.
