Project #3- Digital Paper Craft

Project #2- 40 Years in The Future

A Dying World

By Jacklyn Yamine

In the year 2057 people have all but forgotten what it means to take care of our home and the world we live in, resulting in most of our natural resources and materials being used up at a constantly faster rate than we can replace and make more to the point where many living organisms have died for the most part outside of the city.  Due to the lack of plants there is now a lack of fresh air supply and is toxic to anyone that goes outside the city walls for too long.  If they were to go out they would need to wear a face mask or gas mask of some sort over their nose and mouth so as to not breath too much of the toxic air and it is required of everyone to wear heavy duty boots so that the spoiled dirt won’t get into shoes and touch the skin.  In addition to the poor air quality, the sky has become permanently dark so that the sun can no longer be seen, although its UV rays are more harmful than ever and requires extra protection.  Technology, however, is more advanced than it has ever been and we no longer have a need for physical screens.  Sensors are placed into the wall in order to become a computer or television screen.

Project #2- 40 Years in the Future thoughts

I plan to try to focus on what we are putting into the air and how we continue to cut down trees and almost completely cut down full forests as the human race continues to grow.  I would like to have a person working on something at a desk on a computer on one side of the room while in the center we see a window that shows what the world has become due to their/our continuously ignored effects we are having on our planet and what our actions are doing to the world. The window picture will show how plants have died due to the lack of fresh air and possibly some smoke coming from a factory will be seen in the far distance and a dark sky overall. To continue showing how poor the air quality has become, the sky will be darker, as often seen in post apocalyptic films and games.  To show how bad the air has become to breath, a medical mask, or even a full on gas mask will be placed on a desk or other piece of furniture of some kind in the room. On the inside of the room that this person is sitting in will have some futuristic pieces of technology as well as having a clean/sleek look to it with little to no furniture.  To further show how advanced technology has become, I would like to show a TV/ computer screen being as a part of the wall that the person in the room is facing while typing on a regular keyboard.  Below are my first few pieces of concept art in which I have shown what I know that I want to physically show in the diorama, next is what I have actually begun to create for the outside scenery that can be seen outside the window.  i plan to have this image somehow illuminated by way of creating a gel transfer and putting a light behind it.
From what we have read it seems that things become simple in the sense of style and pattern when it comes to one's living space, as well as possibly their clothing and overall lifestyle; there what will be shown in the bedroom of this individual will be what seems to be a few necessities in being comfortable with an overall sleek metallic look.  Meaning that there are lots of gray/silver tones in color with no overwhelming pattern or texture.  The figure will also be wearing thick boots to show how bad the terrain has become so that it can only be walked on with thick boots.

Project #2 Readings Thoughts

       "The Machine" was a great reading in the sense of how relevant it is to what is going on today with what is being emitted into our air/atmosphere.  It would seem as if we are slowly poisoning our air supply in certain parts of the world as we continue to emit harmful chemicals and pollution from cars and factories.  This may be a piece of scientific fiction of some sort, but in the many years to come this way of living that has been described in the story line and what has happened to the air and the rest of the planet could become a potential reality due to this pollution that can be seen in many of the larger cities around the world.  The biggest take-up that I understood from this story is that our air supply will become limited to nonexistent if we continue to emit harmful chemicals or contain things in such a way that if they were to be realesed they would be harmful and could possibly kill hundreds of people.   In the way that the people live in isolation and are picked to give birth or what not made me think of a lot of films that have given an insight to what tripe of society we could be living in in years come. When reading this short story I also found it interesting that, I believe it is the main character Vashti who would look at things that were once loved or admired as a part of the world's natural beauty and would simply say "no ideas here" and look away. In this story they have come to believe that they have advanced as a race/ society, which in many ways they probably have, but the. Again there are also many other ways in which they have not moved forwards or backwards because they have the same mindset to use up all of the natural materials that have now caused them to live in an underground city because they no longer have any fresh air to breathe. 

        When reading the article "Don't look away now, the climate crisis needs you" by Naomi Klein, I couldn't help but think about the ways that we do avoid the impact of climate change and how it is affecting our world.  She mentions how she would avoid it by not wanting to believe that it is really happening and wouldn't read any serious article that gives real evidence and I agree with how scary of a thing it can be.  We see all these movies that give a glance into the future if something big enough were to happen that it would almost completely destroy our world and its atmosphere to where it wouldn't be livable anymore.  In addition to how she avoids it, I thought about how I often avoid or simply toss aside the evidence that global warming is a real thing and if things were to continue getting worse we may ed up in a world such as the one seen in the film Water World, or something like the one seen in the film Mad Mad Fury Road in which there is enough radiation in the air to cause mutations but people can still live on the Earth's surface.  Klein also mentions that because we have long and cold winters doesn't mean that global warming is real and hints that this isn't the case, for just because we have long cold winters doesn't change the fact that our summers are reaching new levels on the thermostat, which are possibly causing things such as the ice caps to melt quicker than the cold is refreezing them.  We do many things that seem like they are going to help our climate, but it is only another way for people to look away from the damage that has been done and continues to get worse because nothing has actually been done in order or make better changes to our climate, what the majority of this article is about.  We keep trying to think of ways that will help our world but nothing has actually been done or started to begin moving in the right direction.
        The third article that reads as a letter to the author's granddaughter in the future was a fun read just as much as it is serious in its message to others about using up all of the world's resources that will make it harder to live in in the many upcoming years.  As he continues to apologize to his daughter in how they have been careless about pretty much everything, there are other times where he simply goes "Oops!" In order to show how careless we have been when living in this world/society that we have created for ourselves that is so demanding of multiple resources and natural materials.  This letter, however is so important for people to realize that this is what's going on today as we continue to grow and develop new things using these natural materials or creating new ones that are harmful to the environment and it's well being. His four year old daughter may not read it until much later, but, as he mentioned, others can read it today and realize what is going on in the world and how it is being affected.

Project 1- Assemblage

For this assemblage project that is centered around consumerism, I chose to make a 3D Sculpture of a coffee pot pouring multiple times that we take for granted as well as felling that it is a necessity to function in today's society. Consumerism has become something of an addiction just as most people become addicted to coffee in order to make it through a single day. Some of the items I have chosen to include are video game consoles and controllers, a cell phone and ear buds, sport cars, soda cans, and multiple food items such as: apples, bananas, hamburger (fast food), small candies (addiction to sugar/sweet things), and even a jar of Nutella.

Effects of Consumerism Article Questions/Thoughts

After reading the article Effects of Consumerism, it was somewhat alarming at some of the things that we do in order to function in society that is gravely affecting the world we live in.  Some of these effects of consumerism that are mentioned were not as shocking to me because I had already become aware of that particular issue, but there were still other things that then made me feel like we are not willing to think about what we are doing to the planet before proceeding to make something that will most likely leave a huge mark in/on the world.
After reading this article, these are some questions that came to mind:
There are so many products that are mass produced and these things are often seen as a necessity in order to function in today's fast paced society, so what do we now believe to be a necessity when it is actually a luxury?
People have already created small groups/organizations in order to help cleanup our environment of trash and other harmful things, but what can we do to get more people involved or have more people make better personal changes when it comes to their trash, or even their carbon footprint?

Artist Statement

 A piece of art is usually meant, if not expected, to represent something that is important to the artist that created the piece. For my work this isn't always the case, although some of my work can have a deeper meaning to them, most of it is simply meant to be enjoyed by the viewer.  The work is still meant to provoke some sort of emotion from the audience, but that doesn't mean it will be related to anything going on within today's current events.  During certain times there seems to be something of a theme that many artists join in on in order to give their own opinion or to help spread the news of whatever is going on. Instead of following this trend, I try to focus on something else that may have been forgotten at the moment even though it is just as important to know and think about as this new wave of info from current events is. When thinking of what I want to draw from more personal issues, I think about what is going on in my personal life at the moment.  What my likes and dislikes are, what's going on with family and friends, and have I learned anything new that I would like to continue practicing? This can be seen in my hand-drawings that I have simply drawn for fun and have little to no further meaning for why I wanted to make these works of art.