After comping up with 2-3 different proposals, I chose to do the last one as my final studio project. I chose a large 40×60 inch foam board where I would stick the general collage of the Arab world, showing all the different places and cultures. By doing so, I aim to portray the authentic civilization and the vintage side of the Middle East. And in the foreground, a short, common and Arabic saying that is familiar in the older generation.
Firstly, I gathered around 80 pictures found on Google and printed them on the Pro-color printer. I cut them up accurately and began to arrange them onto the foam board.
This is how the final arrangement of the collage turned out. I later glued them on, and added a layer of finishing glue in order to give the collage a magazine-like shine. After the images dried up and the collage was finalized, i decided to add splatters of white paint, similar to what Tunney does, in order to give the collage more style.
When the collage was done. I had to start working with the text design. At the beginning, I was going to use a longer saying in arabic, however, it would have covered the whole piece, with small letters where the collage would not be visible between the letter. For that reason I found another saying that I’ve heard several times. In translation “إسمع مني و ليس عني ” means to hear it from me and not about me. The saying worked well with the message behind my piece. The misrepresentation about the Middle East that is portrayed in the media is totally different from what the situation actually is, and so this collage will be showing the reality and the beauty of that region.
In order to make the letter perfect, I projected them and traced them on a a piece of paper. I later used an olfa knife in order to cut each word accurately, and tapped around them so as I can stick them on the foam board.
While the letters were tightly taped onto the canvas, I painted over them using a palette knife with the liquid acrylic. I waited until the red paint dried and then I once again added more splatters of white paint for a more developed and artistic look. When all the paint was dry, I peeled of the letters.
Once the letters were peeled off, I decided to add a black border to the text in order to add definition and make the words clearer and more readable.
The final piece:
