Video:
This final project may very well be my last at Parsons. It was important to me that this project accurately represented me as a person and artist. When brainstorming ideas, I often think of my own passions and my own childhood experiences. As I sat in my dorm thinking and drawing out my ideas to pursue for the next five weeks I strangely had a flashback to my six-year-old self in Marathon Florida. As a kid, I frequently visited the Marathon Turtle Hospital which was a bike ride away from our house. I would spend hours there talking to the doctors who performed lifesaving surgeries on the injured turtle inhabitants of Florida. From boating accidents to ingested plastic, this hospital had incoming turtles of all types of trauma. Sitting in my dorm I realized I had not only a very intense and genuine love for turtles but also a disgust for the things that sent them to the Marathon Turtle hospital.
So, it was decided, my final project at Parsons would be about sea turtles. I related my passion to sea turtles and research on sea pollution to my academic focus in marketing and design. As I began to brainstorm and find new inspiration I knew I wanted to tackle the idea of digital media versus physical art work, so it only seemed fitting that I create a street installation. I am very interested in the way people, and specifically my generation, react to different mediums. We may see a very disturbing animal cruelty video on Facebook but not think twice before scrolling past it. While Banksy’s work is very expansive and conceptual, he rarely provides his viewers with information on how to help the issue at hand. I wanted to act as artist and informer when it came to my street installation. So, I began conceptual brainstorms as well as material brainstorms and came to the conclusion of using stuffed animals and fake blood. Banksy often uses this contradiction of cuteness and gore, I found inspiration in his graffiti of a young child throwing a bomb flower bouquet.
I began with a small and very realistic prototype of what I wanted my installation to look like. Within this project there are three key components: The stuffed animal display, the informational signs, and the documentation. Without all three it could not be successful, and street installations are very unpredictable. At seven in the morning on 4th avenue I displayed two medium sized sea animals with plastic, blood, and organs oozing from their midsections. Behind the animals stood two informational signs stating how an everyday person can make a small change to help. I stood a little bit further away, in front of a coffee shop and held my phone casually to record the New York City street walkers and installation subjects. While I wasn’t able to capture everything on tape, I did experience some pretty interesting reactions. Some people stopped to take photos, others glared with faces of disgust, and some even made comments like “not with our president”. If I had another chance to do the installation I would hope to have a better documentation set up to record facial expressions and noises. Overall I am content with the outcome of my installation and it definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone with material usage. I hope to pursue larger installations in the future and continue to be inspired by my own passions with my artwork.
Title:
What are you stuffed with?
Physical:
Stuffed sea animals
Clay intestines
Collected plastic coming out of their stomachs
Fake blood
Conceptual:
Presenting the public with an issue by confronting them.
Showing how physical art has the ability to be more effective than digital
Advocating for sea animals help using installation art
Reaction:
I hope my viewers are interested and a bit disturbed by the bloody animals
Hopefully it inspires them to be better and also shows them the reality of where our trash can end up.
Informational:
After my viewers are confronted by the installation they will see two signs telling them how they can help this issue easily. (recycle, and use reusable bags)
