Final Project – here4u

There’s something about opening myself up and exposing vulnerability that is important to my creative work and to my life. In laying myself bare, I hope that it encourages others to do the same and maybe we connect in the process. I tell people about me in the hopes that they’ll tell me about them.

You can read in depth about where I started with this project in this post, but in as concise a way as I can manage with this project, I was working to tell a non-linear narrative about a platonic, long-distance relationship between a mother and son. Using journal entries, film photographs, newspapers, daily planners, notes to self, and random memorabilia from myself and my mother, I scattered QR codes throughout an installation of two desks with a trail of printed text messages between them. In order to enhance the interactivity of my project,  the QR codes led to voicemails and text messages between a mother and a son, digital photos showing silhouetted figures and miscellaneous homes, and footage from anti-Trump protests. I worked to emphasize feelings of distance, loneliness, belonging, and relationship that I have experienced and continue to experience during my time in Columbus.

This final project — here4u — really took it out of me. Working from such a personal place was in some ways freeing, but constantly stressful. I spent a lot of time with this project worrying about whether people would connect with the work, whether they would believe the authenticity of it, and whether I was oversharing to the point of discomfort (for both the audience and for myself). The worry was balanced equally with excitement/anticipation of how it would all be received. To amplify some rawness that I was only beginning to develop after the first showing, I generated much more digital material and matched that with an increase in tangible items in the space. From laying out journals and planners that I carry with me every day, some even including notes and plans for the work, screenshotting and printing out text conversations between my mom and I to create a trail between the two desks, and even brewing the tea that reminds me of home was my way of leaning into opening myself up for the audience. Besides the lights that Oded designed for me, I wanted to strip this installation of all extraneous theatricality in order to get at the personal nature of the work.

The “son” space

The “mother” space

After some recommendations from Alex after the first cycle presentation, I began to think more choreographically about this project, shifting my mindset around it from the creation of a static installation into the curation of a museum of moments to be experienced. Between the first cycle and the final showing, I invested much more time and effort into crafting the viewer’s journey through the space. Oded’s lighting certainly helped this, and with it I thought critically about which QR codes should be placed where in order to enhance a tangible object, a written note, etc. This felt like mental prototyping and it helped me to conceptualize what I wanted for my final product.

The ‘son’ space

I’m thankful for this final project (and this course) for giving me an outlet to investigate the concepts I’m researching in my dance-making through other disciplines. Taking themes I work with in the dance studio and translating them into photography, audio/visual art, and digital media design has given me a new perspective on the topics I am diving into for my senior project and beyond. DEMS was a real treat, and I’m glad to have been a part of it.