Bridge 2: Reflection
– What was the most challenging aspect of collaborating with your partner?
The most challenging aspect of collaborating with Elena was that I had to make sure that what I was translating was accurate to what her project was. Since I wasn’t at the crit, Elena had to explain everything for me. When she first explained it to me, I didn’t understand what she was saying at first, but after explaining it to a little better I was able to understand. She focused on how throughout her life, she put others in control of her mental health.
– Did you find anything surprising throughout the translating process?
I didn’t really find anything surprising throughout the translating process. I felt like everything was pretty clear on the things that we needed to do.
– What was ‘lost’ in translation? What was gained?
I honestly don’t think anything was lost in the translation because while Elena presented her project through a symbolic lense, I did a literal translation. They are two completely different ways to present something, however nothing was lost. I think the translation could just be figured out or understood by just looking at it but with Elenas project, the audience must interact with it.
– What were some things you will take away from the feedback you received in crit?
When we were talking about the piece in the crit, I got asked questions on why I did certain things, such as paint a skull instead of an actual human head, or why I chose the color of the ribbon. These small details people paid attention to and I think for the next project that we do, I should have significance for why I did certain things in the project, because I can’t keep saying that there was no reason and it was just meant for aesthetic.
– What do you think was successful about your piece?
In my opinion, I think that my literal presentation of Elenas project was the most successful part of the piece. I really liked the contrast between them and how if you look at my project you would probably understand what the meaning was behind them, whereas if you look at Elenas you need to interact with it in order to get the meaning and full understanding behind it.
– What do you think was unsuccessful about your piece?
In order to put emphasis on the concept and the translation I think I could’ve added more hands that were picking at the brain so that it didn’t look like it was someone constructing the brain, or one person just taking it apart, because there was some confusion between that.
– Would you change anything about the piece?
If I could change anything about the piece, I think I would focus on making the brain look more gory and disgusting. I could add more red paint and go over the brain with a clear gloss to give it that 3D look. I would also add more hands to put emphasis on the concept like I said before.
These are the notes I took when Elena was explaining her project to me. I did a small little thumbnail sketch of how I wanted the project to look like.
I was going to leave the background as it was but since the hands were skintone and similar with the wood, I decided to paint it black to add for emphasis and contrast between everything.
This was the final piece. I was really satisfied with out it turned out and I’m glad that everyone thought that it was an accurate representation of Elenas project.
