Saturday, March 7, 2015
Free Blog Post March 8
This week, we got to choose whatever we wanted to talk about. I had no clue what I wanted to talk about, so I decided that I would make my blog post about the first thing I saw when I looked away from my computer. Luckily, this happened to be something fairly interesting, my CAMH (Contemporary Art Museum of Houston) submission, which has taken over my whole room. You might be wondering why I am submitting an artwork to this prestigious museum. While if you didn't know, the CAMH is planning on having an exhibit about marginalization featuring teenage artists between the age of 15-19. I am about half way done with my piece, and the submission is due on March 13, a week from now, which means I will have to work really hard to get it done. My piece is going to be about teen suicide, posing the question 'Why do we push people so far to the edges of society that they feel as if their only choice is to accept death and kill themselves.' To convey this idea, I made a big, wooden frame with mesh stretching across the inside. From this mesh, I am hanging 400 fake roses at varying heights. I also plan to hang real roses spread throughout the fake ones. As time goes on, the real roses will wilt and fall to the ground, symbolizing the teens who choose to commit suicide. I chose to hang roses because in the Victorian Language of Flowers, roses mean love. Whereas wilted roses mean rejected love. I thought that these two meanings go perfectly with my message of this piece. What do you guys think about this piece? Do you guys have any suggestions?
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I think it is a great idea and that it is a very important topic that some people reject. I also like your idea about using flowers, roses, and using the real flowers to symbolize the teens that choose to commit suicide. The connection of roses meaning love and how teens commit suicide sometimes because they don't feel loved.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was wondering why you decided to put the roses on different height levels. Is there an significance to this or was it for aesthetic purposes or both?
Deletewow....just wow tay tay this is a great idea. A question did come to mind when I read your last few sentences about roses meaning love, is everyone who suicides not loved? people who are going through depression often feel as if no one loves them, but what they don't see is all the people that do love them. Just a question maybe someone would like to answer with a comment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, but I think it is hard to determine that, just because everyone is different, as well as the fact that we haven't been in that position, making it harder for us to empathize.
DeleteThis piece sounds very beautiful. It reminds me of a memorial. Does the theme of rose petals wilting with time link to teenage suicide?
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ReplyDeleteI feel that the rose petals meaning love, and the occurrence of them wilting represents the teenager's feeling of loneliness when they think of harming themselves. They are dying slowly.
ReplyDeleteWell, Matthew said in his explanation that the wilting roses were being used to symbolize rejected love, so the need to attach even more meaning onto them isn't that necessary. Good idea though, Ian- that really adds an extra layer of depth. I think that it’s a really creative and interesting project (that I'd definitely want to see some pictures of it once it is completed).
DeleteI love how the piece works with the environment around it and not against it. Also, your symbolism works extremely well(:
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting layer of symbolism that came to my mind was the stigma people have around mental health, especially in this country. It's not socially acceptable to discuss issues like depression on a personal and not academic level which causes people who suffer from it to end up getting worse. The fake roses could represent how people pretend mental health doesn't exist when they can, which is fake and how, as a result, people who try to be fake about it but suffer from it (real roses) end up dying as a result of this ignorance bubble.
Do you think that whatever symbolism the artist has for this piece is the symbolism of it or the one the viewer has of it or both? Why?
I think that would be a great pice of artwork to the exhibit. Because, not only will it show the reality of the world we live in today, it could also show, with the fake roses, that we have to pretend we are like everyone else. So we won't fall into the trap society lays for us.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think that its a pretty cool idea! I really really liked how you are gonna put real roses among fake roses to symbolize the teens who commit suicide. I hope it's a success! Can I ask you, what made you chose to do this piece of art and submit it to the CAMH?
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