<3: January 2009

The juxtaposition of the list of facts and the hurricane/effect images really gave it the face of a t.v./radio/newspaper informative piece. It certainly helped the theme which I have it understood to be how the media affects what people care about and for how long they care about it. The art (music and images), and the article excerpts contradicted the media...I think the media [first portion of slideshow] was to inform as to the overall effects and who donated money and how many people died. However the way the disaster of Katrina affected people was hished after a while...I think there's a bright idea behind it all but seeing/hearing this didn't really get anything across to me at first, not until Ms. T explained the meaning behind it all did I understand it. Wasn't clear I guess.

My initial theme was "children in my neighborhood." Throughout the creating of the book though my ideas changed, though I did use the intended media, drawings, objects and photographs. Originally I wanted to play around with toddler toy cars in the scenery of my pictures but as that proved itself impossible I did something else. Instead of putting children's toys in the photos I photographed children. Originally I wanted to avoid putting people in my book because I wanted to avoid both people and words and focus on objects. I ended up photographing my sisters. The one thing, for lack of better word, that stands out to me on the streets are teen parents. I wanted to mention that in my book, how sometimes people can't do what they want because of certain choices they made along the way. Even if they do do it, it is more difficult with a child. So, I hired my sisters as models and instructed them into costumes. My sister Carla was instructed to put on my dad's shoes because she has longer, thicker, boy-like legs. I had my sister Jazmin wear a pair of my mom's high heels since her legs are extremely thin and would make a funny contrast with the large shoes. I titled the picture "Playing dress-up" and it's one of my favorites.

As you can tell I did mess with the contrast and colors. I did this after noticing how "lame" the pictures looked. I like the way the photos turned out, being my first time taking photos for the purpose of art, the darkness about some of them go right with my theme. What I ended up saying about the children in my community was...How they live in a "real" world with a "fake" cover. My book cover is really pretty paper with flowers and animals in bright colors. I had the little kids in my CCD class draw on the inside of the books...Different crayons and different images. Then above this images I pasted down my dark pictures. Children go to school and smile at everyone, sometimes they're shy to draw in art class but they end up drawing a house with a red door and a tire swing, a dog, and two parents. I think what I ended up saying was, everything may seem like it is okay but that is not always the case. However I also think I said, everything may seem like it's wrong but that isn't always the case. I suppose I ended up with the old cliche: Don't judge a book by it's cover. When I realized this I was a bit angry. I think I couldve used more pictures and maybe more subjects or more drawing somehow. I'm not satisfied with my creation because it seemed too plain and the message too obvious. There were times when I thought "Why am I choosing this picture? How does this help my theme? Do I need it?" but I just went with the flow. Then again I am always too self-concious and very critical about my own work. I never did get a chance to hear what others thought. Regardless of my un-satisfaction I enjoyed the project, it was something fun and new. In my case it was also something experimental since I am a writer and not a visual artist.

Photos used in book and their titles: