Elasticlimit

Where are the Crown Lands

This image is about the dilemma Hawaii is in. Essentially a comfortable life is dependant on the harbors and roads. The base of the image is Pearl Harbor. The roots of a plant are what absorb all the nutrients and water for the plant. Which is paralleled to Hawaii where our harbors are the roots of society. The roots are connected to the stem and branches of a plant and this is similar to how the roads are used in Hawaii. The “stem and branches” of Hawaii are similar to a plant because the stem and branches are used to transfer the nutrients to all parts of the plant. The leaves of my “plant” are made with the sides of a Matson container. Not only are leaves responsible for photosynthesis but they also store water and nutrients. Containers are used to store and ship products to and around Hawaii.

The flowers of a plant are what generally people think of when they think of many specific plants. Especially when thinking about Hawaii coconut trees and Leis/flowers come to mind. The hibiscus plant is Hawaii’s state flower. “emblem-ically” people think of a red hibiscus but the state flower is actually yellow and it’s the Pua aloalo (hibiscus brackenridgei) which is native to Hawaii. I put two white hibiscus because they represent the two endemic white hibiscus species in Hawaii. The yellow hibiscus is on top because this is what should be seen when Hawaii and hibiscus are put in the same sentence. This assignment was about the authentic and the fake, the red hibiscus being the fake emblem of Hawaii. All the flowers were printed once then scanned then printed again. Each flower is made up of five duplicates of one petal. I wanted to emphasize the invasiveness of “Hawaiian” products in Hawaii. The representation is fabricated. We sell fake lei’s just so people can take them home. These are the type of things that are sent to our “roots” through our “stems/branches” to our “leaves” so we can enjoy these “flowers”.

Author/Artist Kenji Ashman

Artists through the centuries have looked at the world in with a different perspective and then created works that share those perspectives with the people around them. It is my duty as an artist to continue this tradition in my own innovative way.  In my artistic practice I look around me and try to see what others have dismissed.  The things that people would rather forget or ignore are the things that interest me most.  In many of my artistic endeavors I look at an object, a situation, or an event and deconstruct it to it’s individual parts in order to glean understanding, find resolution or exposes truths.  In my piece titled: 29°19′N x 157°52′W I have done just that.  I took an event and emotions that had happened to me recently and broke them down into a 5 part series to both finds resolution for myself, and glean understating about the way I was feeling.

The piece 29°19N x 157°52’W is about my struggle with the loss of my two friends and grandfather.  I had recently lost two friends in sailing accidents and my grandfather who was a sailor to old age.  In order to create this piece, I reflected on the evens that had led to my friends deaths.  I also looked back on my experiences sailing with them, the pain I was feeling and my guess as to what they must have felt while they were dying.  I also looked at my old sailing books and online resources to find pieces of information about sailing that I could use to represent parts of the story.  I had my friends help by taking pictures of me underwater at various locations around the island and I combined all of my reflections and images into the 5 part series.  I designed it to show the progression from sadness and struggle to understanding and acceptance.  While creating this project I not only learned new ways of combining images and new techniques for representing events visually, but I also found peace and acceptance for myself and was able to move out of sadness.

This picture was taken in Colorado over the past winter break. I am
originally from Denver, where the sunsets are quite different from
those in Hawaii. I was born and raised in Colorado, in a little suburb
outside of Denver. There was a lot I took for granted and didn?t
realize I missed it until I came to Hawaii. One of those things is the
Coloradan Mile High sunsets.

I took the picture with my digital camera in a moving car, and the
result was unintentional. Regardless, the meaning I find in it is
movement, transitions, and distorted memories. Colorado was my home for
18 years. It was a big step for me to come to Hawai`i but is now where
I have established myself. With the sunset in the background, outlines
of dead trees, and the blurs of cars, it represents my movement forward
from where I grew up. All my memories there have passed but it will
always be my beautiful home no matter where I go. The linear movement
represents the lines that connect my past with my present and future.

This is similar with my final project last semester in beginning
digital imaging. I chose images from four places most important to me:
Colorado, Mississippi, California, and Hawaii. I bridged the
memories together into my transitioning to Hawai`i. The landscapes and
the memories contained within them are what have shaped where I am
today. Although I took the photograph after this project, I find many
similarities and inspiration from the photograph in my search for
finding my place and creating my identity while still remembering my
past.

Alli, Annie, Hannah, and Berit, all 13, before the first big party of the seventh grade, Edina, Minnesota, Lauren Greenfield, 2002

Lauren Greenfield, an American documentary photographer, released a
photography essay entitled “Girl Culture.” She came to UH manoa as
guest speaker in Fall 2008. In “Girl Culture”, Greenfield focuses on
American teenage girls who involved in mainstream society. She
photographs average teenage girls. Sometimes, the images seem like
worthless or ridiculous; however, the artist shows the reality of
girls’ environment. Her book made me think about girls’ relationship
with world, and reminds me about my teenage experience. Greenfield uses
her camera as mirror of girls’ society, and demonstrates of the crisis
of their environment and culture.
The image from Greenfield’s work I chose is titled “Alli, Annie,
Hannah, and Berit, all 13, before the first big party of the seventh
grade, Edina, Minnesota.” In the image four Caucasian girls are wearing
dresses, have their hair and make up done. They are emulating what
Greenfield refers to as “popular girls.” The media sets the standards
of how women should be in order to be popular, the ideal being girls
who are skinny, well-dressed, rich, and blonde. “Through the history of
art, and in the contemporary world of film and advertising, images of
women often have been presented in ways that emphasize their status as
sexual beings or maternal figures.”(By Greenfield)
We all are surrounded by mass media or mess culture. These media
control our life somehow. Especially, teenage are sensitive for the
commercialized culture, and recently, teens support consumer culture.
“Girl Culture” shows American girl’s society which is surrounded by
information technology and people’s gaze. As an image maker, I’m
impressed by her photo style and concept.

Author: Aya Watanuki

The Top Grossing Film of All Time, 1 x 1 2000

Looking at the work of Jason Salavon has given me an interesting perspective when thinking about the idea of the “body” for my current project as well as the research I had done for my first project. As the word body often makes one think of the human body [which Salavon does deal with in some of his work] that is not always the case. The body can also be considered as a group, or as a collection, a collection of anything [often things somehow related]. The idea of body can be represented in numerous ways depending on your interpretation of the word, and this is an idea that I have often found intriguing. Finding different ways to view an idea and searching for new ways to visually represent that I feel is what I try to do as an artist. When I personally think about the body I have found myself looking at the biological facts, the way that people are affected on a scientific level. It makes me think about topics like genetics, generations, and even viruses or health problems. And after viewing Salavon’s work I have now started to think about how my ideas could be represented and abstracted similarly to what Jason Salavon has done. I feel that for much of his work, he takes an idea and abstracts it to a point of almost no understanding if you were to simply view the image itself. I am personally drawn to the idea of creating art from data, and I feel that Salavon does this in an interesting way in some of his work.

Height Distribution, Men & Women, US 2001

The numerous images where he abstracts an idea to mere pixels, colors, or shapes is intriguing and something that I had never thought about too much previously. A number of his works are simply a series of pixels that make up the entire piece. He has taken information like the top grossing movie of all time, Titanic, and created an art piece of one second from every scene of the entire movie. Salavon also takes something like height and weight distribution of the U.S. population and creates a piece that is simply black dots on a white background. What made him choose black, choose dots, etc? And how was he able to reach that idea?  Rather than simply using the literal facts and numbers of researched statistics, as I did in my first project, I want to find an approach more similar to what Salavon did to force me to think of an interesting way to visually portray that information instead.  I often find myself being drawn to the scientific aspects of things, and while statistics may be easy to come by in that sense, I want to challenge myself to find unique and more stimulating ways to visually represent what I will want to say. What are ways that I can represent an idea like genes or blood types for example, and do so where it creates more interest and thinking from the viewer’s standpoint? And how far can I go with abstraction and still show a connection to my original idea?

Author: Tara Matsumura

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