Book 1: Series "Second/Third Impressions"
My plan for this project changed quite a few times. Originally I wanted to work with photos of myself I hated, and then altered them to "fit me." From there, I changed it to seeing the external self as an advertisment. This lead me to google myself--and I realized I wanted to work with that instead. I aimed to work that have been taken of me that have been posted online and replaced them with photos of myself that I took as a form of reclamiation.
Write up:
The goal for this book was to investigate the idea of reclaiming the privacy of your perception online. The idea also was partially influenced by one I had with my dad--the idea of "privacy" no longer exists online. When I was a lot younger, there was a lot of focus on not sharing your full name or location publically, giving very little information about yourself for safety. This has almost completely vanished, at least going into adulthood. Now the expectation to have a full profile of your work experience, CV, school, etc is becoming the norm. For the most part, you can find almost anyone online with just their name.
This book aims to reclaim the perception and misinformation of myself online. I took all the photos listed in the book myself. If you are to google me, you would see that in the spots I removed were once older photos. Despite the offenses being super minor, there are slight devations from the truths. For example, one that is highlighted is the "A story adapted from" in the article about Theatre for Young Audiences Festival. I didn't adapt the story--it was an original concept. Yet it was posted without my idea.
It also explores the discomfort with being perceived online. Having a photo of yourself randomly appear is unnerving. Reading about yourself in a third person creates an out of body feeling. This is especially the case if you feel this description was simplified, surface level or inaccurate.
Commentary:
- The eye represents the camera in which the individual looks out of
- Replacing the camera represents showing others how you perceive things
- The long, full body image is all the google pages in which my name or something related to me appears. It ends at page 6
- Book begins with the first searches/information about me one encounters
- Book then transitions into a bit deeper of a search, being articles and instagram
- I work for the Meliorist, the depicted image is of an article I wrote
- If you look carefully in the media pass, you can see an overlayed image of myself taking a photo
Pages/Layout:
Book 2: Sequence "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
This book didn't go through much for change. I had a pretty solid idea from the beginning of what I was going to do. I tried to keep the images as "plein air" as possible, but altered a few things for the sake of lighting and composition. Most of these photos were taken in my room.
Write up:
This book is in chronological order of what would have been my response when asked "What do you want to be when you grow up" when I was a kid. However, instead of the photos being childhood photos of myself, they are how these interests have manifested throughout my life. It brings the question of "how much do we really change" into discussion. It was challenging to put all my interests on a timeline, just since they weren't inherently clear cut--I had interests that spanned multiple years and overlapped. Other than that, I adhered to a chronological sequence.
Commentary:
- Palentologist--I did end up finishing the Lego dinosaur by the end of this project, but not before it was due. It's on the shelf in my room and it looks so cool.
- Palentologist--The laptop is displaying my neuroscience lecture. Apparentally, you need a good understanding of physics and hard sciences to become a palentologist. That was the closest thing I got to it.
- Engineer/inventor--this interest was mostly related to loving problem solving. The problem in this case was my lamp wouldn't melt my candle (it smells like fruit loops!) so I had to put a bunch of things under it so it would be closer.
- Writer--I still want to be a writer, but I'm totally okay with doing it on the side now. So ended when I was 8ish.
- Cat--Yep. I wrote the word "Cat" all over my house to convince my parents to let me get one. We haven't gotten rid of them all yet.
- It eventually worked. That is my* cat Jasper. He has 6 toes on each paw.
- *technically my grandpas cat, but it's a shared custody arrangement so I count it
- Dancer--glitter on my floor. I poured this glitter because there wasn't a spot noticeable to the camera where glitter was EVERYWHERE. I can't get rid of it. It hasn't left
- Dancer--I was debating doing something theatre related, but I couldn't find something other than an old poster to work. It's a lot more indirect, since I only do backstage writing/directing and I hate acting and being on stage. And glitter is a nightmare.
- Childish--never understood people who said that they believed they could "be whoever they wanted" and could "chase their dreams" as a kid, only to be crushed by "true adulthood knowledge." I was not like that? Who even was told that? I was scared of everything about adulthood. There was never a "loss of innocence moment."
- Childish-- I wanted to be silly and carefree when I was older. I am silly, maybe not carefree. But adulthood is far better than childhood.
- Animator--this is how I got into art! I started during quarantine
- Animator-- the photoshop document depicted is me editing the first book
- Smarter-- I always thought I was dumb as rocks as a kid, because I couldn't understand why I fell so far behind academically. Turns out it's just ADHD. And it's very solvable.
- Smarter--This isn't me saying "oh I took meds that made me smarter" (even though I see how that can be interpreted). But actually being able to get treatment & accomodations has made me feel MUCH better.
- Aquarium technician--The image depicts my old fish tank stand, now downgraded to a regular shelf.
- Normal--didn't work out
- An Ornithologist--I want to study birds. I've always wanted to study birds. I love birds. I'm a huge fan
- This is only a shred of my bird object collection
- Didn't know if I should put -Present on this one--if someone offered me a job in ornithology I would take it without hesitation. Decided not to because I'm technically not "going for it"
- Professor in something--Still my dream job. Decided to be a professor before knowing what to be a professor in. I know it's essentially impossible to get, but it's one of the only jobs that combine the flexibility, workoholisicm that I love.
- I'm getting my teaching degree as a backup. They pay sessionals 6k. It's equally as rare to be a tenured prof as it is to be a professional football player. Tenure prob won't exist by the time I get my PhD. Hooray.
- I have back up plan jobs A-Z. We will see what I end up doing.
Pages/Layout:
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