Oppression: Ever since we were given the assignment to create sculpture on the subject of oppression, I have found myself just continuing to read about the subject. The word "oppression" is used in so many different areas of life, from discrimination, immigration, racism, education, health insurance, employment, men, women, food banks, finances, all the way to politics. Its actually overwhelming how many people can actually feel oppressed. I say "feel oppressed" because some writings are on the subject of how many people feel they are oppressed and are not actually oppressed. So then how to do even know if we are oppressed and who is oppressed and what caused oppression. The questions just keep going and the list gets longer.
So this is what I have came up with after reading for multiple hours. The true definition of "oppression" (from Merriam-Webster)
__________________________________________________________ Oppression: Definition of OPPRESSION
1 a : unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power b : something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power 2 : a sense of being weighed down in body or mind : depression See oppression defined for kids » Examples of OPPRESSION
As you can see, the subject of oppression, at least how I have absorbed it, is wide open; and has the possibilities of going every direction throughout everyone's life, at some point.
So in order to narrow the subject down a little bit, we need to decide what we would like our sculpture to represent? what will it speak of? what could a viewer take in by giving our sculpture some time? Would it be very representational? obvious? unclear? Would it need to be explained? Would there be a statement? Would it include text? Would it tell of history? Would it tell what oppression is? Would it show how terrible oppression is? Would it tell how often it occurs? Would it try and provide a way out? Would our sculpture represent what oppression is? Would our sculpture show the opposite of oppression: gaiety (also gayety), gayness, glee, gleefulness, humor, jollity, joviality, lightheartedness, merriment, mirth, mirthfulness; cheer, cheerfulness, cheeriness, hopefulness, optimism, sunniness; content, contentedness, contentment, satisfaction; delight, gratification, bliss, blissfulness, ecstasy, elatedness, elation, euphoria, exhilaration, exuberance, exultation, felicity, gladness, gladsomeness, happiness, heaven, intoxication, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilation, rapture, rapturousness
I'm out of space... continuing on the next comment page >
So, personally, I have in mind a simplicity of the subject of sculptural oppression: A single line. A single line recreated two or three or four hundred times... or more. Each line represents a human being. Each line began as a single straight line and somehow ended up not just a straight single line, As we are all human. We all began as human and then somehow grew up with differences, yet we are all still human... yet different... but still human...on and on and on. This single straight line will be the beginning of the sculptural series. From this point on, its up to us to see how many ways we can stick with this line which is from a decent sized piece of wire and transform it.
As far as size goes, I've been picturing about the 2 feet range?? As far as the display goes, I feel they need to be separate, but together... more strength on the together side... sort of grouped. Each one is seen as an individual, but yet when seen from a distance it forms one amazing unit. Kind of like the way our whole world is, yet we never quite think of it in this way very often. This is one area where once a hundred or so was created, they could start being placed to figure out a way to present a message. For some reason, I've been imagining sort of a curtain. A curtain hanging down, that was built by each individual joined. If this was done well, it could hang again and again and again, even outdoors, in the wind, in the snow, rain, hail... whatever. Wow! That would be amazing to have a massive iron curtain hanging outside, totally built from "individuals" joining together. (But that creates an argument, because one author explains how the word "oppression" is a way to be pressed into one place where they are not comfortable., Marilyn Frye, Oppression, P.2.)
But, going on. This sculpture would be on the thought that when humans are together, even though we all have differences, oppression is less... strength is built with many, not one.
Imagine viewing this curtain, or some other type of joined display unit, from a distance. It may be unclear what is holding it together. When viewing it very closely, it would be unclear how large it is... what this one individual is helping to support... what it does support.... what every human helps support.
What I have found myself thinking about alot is the fact that one individual is not able to create anything on its own. I mean just sit back and ponder this for awhile. Instantly its easy for us to think that we have done something on our own, but when you look outside the box to what it took for us to create something or go somewhere, it was because of what someone else did. I feel that oppression often occurs when little things like this are forgotten about and truly realized and even thanked.
So that's where I'm at at the moment... and I know that a sculpture such as this, with possibly a group artist statement, would help people to take an individual into consideration when realizing what may become when more than one is joined... what has already happened when many have joined.
I'm signing out... My next step is to start trying to put all of this brain stuff into sketches... or just start working with Wire :)
I still really like the whole "Line" concept for our group. I had a few thoughts also. I was thinking more of a way threw display of each line. Starting with the single straight line representing human as one, and then so on each other line is displayed on a podium as the viewers walk by each one wondering exactly why there are different looking lines but when you reach the end, i knew our group was talking about putting some kind of saying with it, but I think either one word or just a few words would be stronger and more effective than a sentence, so at the end of the displayed walk theres a sign with a strong message that the viewer understands with our project, knowing that with this one straight line there becomes different styles and looks of this one line, saying we are the same (same wire) but we look different (lines). I was thinking the lines being in a much higher foot range like 6 or 7 would be very powering ... ?
I really like that alternate idea of a longer individual wire... I believe that all of these could be very close together yet individual.... Yet they may not have to be close. There are so many things about this project that we would need to take some chances on. If this is something that our class decides on, it would be great to build up some varying lengths and start positioning them just to get a feel for what we are dealing with. I also really agree on the one-word structure. I did not notice your comment this until I had already kind of pondered this idea. I like it. I wrote more about below, but I feel that we agree on this a lot, that there is more power in a word than a phrase, at least for this direction that we're going. Another idea that would develop over time, is where the statement would be - at the beginning, at the end, in the middle, stretched out, individual... so forth. I noticed that you said "at the end." This might be a powerful message as to engage the viewers into wondering and developing a personal feeling towards the sculpture and then giving them the answer. This is a big question: Where should the statement be? Should the viewer know ahead of time what they are walking beside? Should the statement be very bold? Should it be subtle? Would the statement draw attention whether it was bold or subtle? How should it be... where should it be... what should it say? I'm with you on the thought that it should definitely be one-worded. Good-Good :)
I like both of you guys' ideas and was thinking a little bit about them together. It might be neat to do the whole podium idea and have the wire getting more and more abstracted as someone is walking through and go with just a word or a few words at the end in big letters but these words would be displayed above a big sculpture that is all of those abstracted pieces put together to form the whole that we are trying to convey. So you will walk through the tunnel and see all of these pieces of wire as individuals and then come to the end and have a big cluster of wire with a couple powerful words over the sculpture. Maybe we could have fragments of the word or like one word examples of oppression displayed throughout the tunnel?
I look forward to chatting with others about this idea... It can either be built, built upon, or sand bagged... Oh and one more idea / question: Does this sculpture have to be inside? What if it doesn't fit?
So I woke up this morning wondering if this individual wire sculpture was to be created, would it or could it be formed into a symbol? could it include symbolism? What ever sculpture we as a class create, is there some type of symbolism that we could work into the piece? Or is the piece itself a symbol? Maybe it could be symbols inside of a symbol... If our piece did include symbols, which ones? what symbols present a message that we would like gathered from viewers. Maybe our piece could present several messages. It has the possibility to be a great piece to talk about. A piece that could really bring many thoughts to mind. I think this is one place that a readable statement for the piece would be a great way to slightly get some subjects started which would feed deeper discussion on the subject of oppression. While on display, our piece should be able to bring up topics on the subject of oppression instead of just being a "sight for the eye." While it can be this, once a statement is read, the viewer can begin to see deeper than just what first catches the eye. And what ever it is that we create, its always amazing to hear what people have to say about what catches their eye and what comes to mind. Well that's it for now... I'm sure that throughout the day more things will come to mind and I'll try and put them in the right place to pull them back up later! :)
To further ponder the thought of an oppression sculpture, I began to look around on the web for some examples of art that is typically displayed on the subject of oppression. I, personally, was not very impressed. For some reason, when I try and view oppression art, all I see is pain. I know that is what is felt during many types of oppression, but don't most already know this, why do we need to see it again. Everyone knows what rape is, so why do people need to display a woman covered in blood. We all know what suicide is, so why do some artists choose to create a piece of a man hanging from a rope. Many authors that I have already touched on with the subject of oppression say that it is like being tortured, so why does an artist have to put together a photographic seen of death. It basically makes me sick to look at everything under the subject of art/oppression. Maybe I'm looking at this in sort of an opposite way in which others do. I wish that I was able to see more art that displays and speaks of what life is like without oppression. When someone is cared for, held on to, helped, loved, etc... I was able to see a few sculptures that included the word "oppression", which were actually pretty encouraging. These showed someone on their way out of oppression; breaking out. These sculptures showed people climbing, breaking loose. I feel that an art piece on the subject of oppression needs to bring to realization what life is like on the other side. I'm not sure what this Tunnel of Oppression activity will really get into, but I'm sure that there will be plenty of information on what has happened to people and the results of oppression.
**Is there anyway that we can show the results of life without oppression? Of life when oppression is beaten? When oppression is conquered? When Oppression is solved? When Oppression is cured? ? ? ?
On to my next thoughts: I've been picturing more of this individual wire sculpture and consider copper a material worth trying. I'm sort of copper collector and find myself at pacific often just to look through the piles and imagine what they could become. But anyway, Copper could be a fairly large wire, but still easily shaped and worked with, even colored, patina applied, hammered... the possibilities are pretty endless. It's also very easy to work with because of the ways it can easily be annealed to make working it extremely simple. If we chose to work with with copper, we could also very easily solder all of our joints/individuals together. I have often preferred copper over ferrous at certain times just because of the affect that solder has on the entire piece. it seems like when connecting ferrous, each weld joint becomes part of the piece and almost hidden. I like the way solder stands out.. It speaks right with every other piece of the piece. I also love the affects of weatherization with copper. When copper is annealed, it can be worked so easily that even if we were using say 1/4" inch copper wire, it could be tied in a knot about as easily as a shoe lace. Being "tied in a knot" already has a relation the word "oppression" Working with a material so flexible just brings the number of possibilities to a higher number. A higher number brings me to the next subject. I had talked earlier on how large our sculpture could be, but maybe that's not a great idea, I guess we would just have to see how things worked out and what type of form could be created with so many pieces. But I've been picturing this same curtain type form, but now just having it be long. Something that people can walk down, walk beside, walk with... sort of like a story being told along the way. I like this... I like the idea of a story being told along the way. A story that just doesn't start and end quickly but goes on for a while and really gives the viewer some insight into what happens along the way. I'm sure that when a person is able to speak of their personal oppression throughout time, it's not just a beginning with an instant end, their is much more through out time, deeper that what most realize... which is what needs to be told. If our sculpture was to be at a decent length, it might be able to hold different symbols throughout, sort of hidden, but visible... My imagination still hasn't came up with any type of symbolism that goes well with the subject I'm putting together. that's for a later time.
Well, I've let out my latest, we'll see what tomorrow brings - bye for now :)
Here's a few thoughts that came to mind today while I was in math... It's actually really interesting because we were just working with numbers in the 300 to 600 range and I started to imagine all these little copper individuals joined together in the formation of a particular symbol or design that related to oppression or a multitude of subjects that brought peoples mind into the realm of what oppression is like... almost like trying to describe the feelings and thoughts that people who are oppressed or who have climbed out of oppression have. What got me thinking about this is that I think since these objects are relatively small, there needs to be many. One topic that should be noted someway or somehow, possibly in a statement, is that we purposely went to the struggle to create hundreds of these little individuals because that is what oppression is like... It's everywhere, in so many cultures, ways of life. I think it would be great to sort of make an announcement in art that oppression is not just what immediately comes to mind and stick with obvious signs of oppression, but to include many different individual wires which would stand for all of the ways oppression is out there and hidden... In ways we don't even realize. Here is a general list of ways that oppression is seen besides the normal that is often shown in art. I believe this is one great example of why, if an individualized / joined sculpture is created, there should be many: It was written by Adam Blatner, M.D., Titled: EXAMPLES OF SUBTLE OPPRESSION. It can be read fully with explanations of each subject at: http://www.blatner.com/adam/psyntbk/oppressexamples.html
1. Corporal Punishment 2. Fashion 3. Fashion in Toys 4. Partial Responsibility 5. Pornography: 6. Prostitution 7. Hyper-Sexuality in the Media 8. Discourtesy 9. Hazing 12. Hell 13. Boredom 14. Should Wives "Obey"? 15. Contraception 16. Language-ism. 20. Class-ism 21. Types of Authoritarianism 22. Bureaucracy 23. Becoming Offended 24. Intellectual Obscurantism, Jargon, Elitism 25. Expectations Regarding New Communications Media 26. Age-ism I (What's "old") 27. Age-ism II (Young People) 28. Issues in the Mainstream Church 29. Re-Thinking Criminal Law 30. Marijuana Use 31. Prison 32. Is lack of funding for programs a type of oppression if the service delivered is considered necessary? 33. What is and is not a disability, and how can this status be protected from undue manipulation and parasitism? 34. Should parenting be an unquestioned "right"? 35. Cross-Cultural Oppression 36. Impinging on Others (with Noise, Light, Smoke, Smells, etc.) 37. Medical Oppression: 38. How “Tough” Should Authorities Be? 39: Property-ism 40. Abilitism 42. Ability-ism II: What should and should not be considered a “disability”? 43. Oppression of the Printed Word 44. Oppression by Tradition.
So, on to my next thought that arose today: The subject of a group sculptural statement: I wondered what it would be like to give each individual, whether they shown as oppressed or un-oppressed / untroubled, a name. I imagined a large print of each individuals name/title. I pictured each individual having a name that described, in one word what or how they feel. A word that explains why they are oppressed. A word that tells how they came out of oppression. A word that tells who helped them come out of oppression. A word that explained the pain they feel.
If we as a class were able to build up at least 300-400 individuals and then join them together, with each having a name, People could read the listed names. They could scan the list. There could be a word that came to mind. There could be one listed that explains themselves. There could be one word that brings a memory of someone they knew.... People could actually even try and match a certain word with an individual inside the sculpture. WoW!!! wouldn't that be great to actually see the word "happy" and try to find it, or look for "exuberance." People might even try and find "gloom" and "torn" and "bored."... This thought excites me more than some of my others because I begin to really imagine when people read and then LOOK. It would be so great if our sculpture, whatever we create, does more to the viewer than cause a glance and walk by. Lets try and stop them for a moment to really take in the sense of oppression and how wide spread it is throughout our entire world.
I pictured this statement to be written out in sort of a "one word sentence" structure. Each word could actually be done different too, as is every individual. Differences in Font, style, color, shape, size, patterned, textured, typed, printed, hand-written, sculpted, stamped, shaded.... the possibilities just keep going. This would be fun to, just to see how many ways words can be written. Each word would be done in a way to correspond to its meaning and individual. I can see this "one word sentence" structure sort of relating to the way oppression has been seen: when people aren't allowed to speak, they are not listened too, they are quiet out of fear, they hold everything in... this one word is like if they were asked to say one word, what would it be. What would this one word be if they knew that with this one word, they were able to tell the world how they feel. This one word doesn't have to be troublesome or simply focused on oppression either. It may be that people who are past oppression are filled with joy. Its amazing to think of how people throughout the world would speak, if they were only allowed one word....?????
I'm signing out and heading to the shop to ponder a few more things. Goodevening and I look forward to chatting in class tomorrow on the subject of oppression. I look forward to hearing how others have put together an idea. :)
Sounds good, now all we need is pictures!
ReplyDeleteHi Everybody! I look forward to our project discussion on the TOP project.
ReplyDeleteOppression: Ever since we were given the assignment to create sculpture on the subject of oppression, I have found myself just continuing to read about the subject. The word "oppression" is used in so many different areas of life, from discrimination, immigration, racism, education, health insurance, employment, men, women, food banks, finances, all the way to politics. Its actually overwhelming how many people can actually feel oppressed. I say "feel oppressed" because some writings are on the subject of how many people feel they are oppressed and are not actually oppressed. So then how to do even know if we are oppressed and who is oppressed and what caused oppression. The questions just keep going and the list gets longer.
ReplyDeleteSo this is what I have came up with after reading for multiple hours. The true definition of "oppression" (from Merriam-Webster)
__________________________________________________________
Oppression: Definition of OPPRESSION
1
a : unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power
b : something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power
2
: a sense of being weighed down in body or mind : depression
See oppression defined for kids »
Examples of OPPRESSION
First Known Use of OPPRESSION
14th century
Related to OPPRESSION
Synonyms: blue devils, blues, dejection, depression, desolation, despond, despondence, despondency, disconsolateness, dispiritedness, doldrums, dolefulness, downheartedness, dreariness, dumps, forlornness, gloom, gloominess, glumness, heartsickness, joylessness, melancholy, miserableness, mopes, mournfulness, sadness, sorrowfulness, unhappiness
___________________________________________________________
As you can see, the subject of oppression, at least how I have absorbed it, is wide open; and has the possibilities of going every direction throughout everyone's life, at some point.
So in order to narrow the subject down a little bit, we need to decide what we would like our sculpture to represent? what will it speak of? what could a viewer take in by giving our sculpture some time? Would it be very representational? obvious? unclear? Would it need to be explained? Would there be a statement? Would it include text? Would it tell of history? Would it tell what oppression is? Would it show how terrible oppression is? Would it tell how often it occurs? Would it try and provide a way out? Would our sculpture represent what oppression is? Would our sculpture show the opposite of oppression: gaiety (also gayety), gayness, glee, gleefulness, humor, jollity, joviality, lightheartedness, merriment, mirth, mirthfulness; cheer, cheerfulness, cheeriness, hopefulness, optimism, sunniness; content, contentedness, contentment, satisfaction; delight, gratification, bliss, blissfulness, ecstasy, elatedness, elation, euphoria, exhilaration, exuberance, exultation, felicity, gladness, gladsomeness, happiness, heaven, intoxication, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilation, rapture, rapturousness
I'm out of space... continuing on the next comment page >
So, personally, I have in mind a simplicity of the subject of sculptural oppression: A single line. A single line recreated two or three or four hundred times... or more. Each line represents a human being. Each line began as a single straight line and somehow ended up not just a straight single line, As we are all human. We all began as human and then somehow grew up with differences, yet we are all still human... yet different... but still human...on and on and on. This single straight line will be the beginning of the sculptural series. From this point on, its up to us to see how many ways we can stick with this line which is from a decent sized piece of wire and transform it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as size goes, I've been picturing about the 2 feet range??
As far as the display goes, I feel they need to be separate, but together... more strength on the together side... sort of grouped.
Each one is seen as an individual, but yet when seen from a distance it forms one amazing unit. Kind of like the way our whole world is, yet we never quite think of it in this way very often. This is one area where once a hundred or so was created, they could start being placed to figure out a way to present a message. For some reason, I've been imagining sort of a curtain. A curtain hanging down, that was built by each individual joined. If this was done well, it could hang again and again and again, even outdoors, in the wind, in the snow, rain, hail... whatever. Wow! That would be amazing to have a massive iron curtain hanging outside, totally built from "individuals" joining together. (But that creates an argument, because one author explains how the word "oppression" is a way to be pressed into one place where they are not comfortable., Marilyn Frye, Oppression, P.2.)
But, going on. This sculpture would be on the thought that when humans are together, even though we all have differences, oppression is less... strength is built with many, not one.
Imagine viewing this curtain, or some other type of joined display unit, from a distance. It may be unclear what is holding it together. When viewing it very closely, it would be unclear how large it is... what this one individual is helping to support... what it does support.... what every human helps support.
What I have found myself thinking about alot is the fact that one individual is not able to create anything on its own. I mean just sit back and ponder this for awhile. Instantly its easy for us to think that we have done something on our own, but when you look outside the box to what it took for us to create something or go somewhere, it was because of what someone else did. I feel that oppression often occurs when little things like this are forgotten about and truly realized and even thanked.
So that's where I'm at at the moment... and I know that a sculpture such as this, with possibly a group artist statement, would help people to take an individual into consideration when realizing what may become when more than one is joined... what has already happened when many have joined.
I'm signing out... My next step is to start trying to put all of this brain stuff into sketches... or just start working with Wire :)
I still really like the whole "Line" concept for our group.
DeleteI had a few thoughts also. I was thinking more of a way threw display of each line.
Starting with the single straight line representing human as one, and then so on each other line is displayed on a podium as the viewers walk by each one wondering exactly why there are different looking lines but when you reach the end, i knew our group was talking about putting some kind of saying with it, but I think either one word or just a few words would be stronger and more effective than a sentence, so at the end of the displayed walk theres a sign with a strong message that the viewer understands with our project, knowing that with this one straight line there becomes different styles and looks of this one line, saying we are the same (same wire) but we look different (lines).
I was thinking the lines being in a much higher foot range like 6 or 7 would be very powering ... ?
I really like that alternate idea of a longer individual wire... I believe that all of these could be very close together yet individual.... Yet they may not have to be close. There are so many things about this project that we would need to take some chances on. If this is something that our class decides on, it would be great to build up some varying lengths and start positioning them just to get a feel for what we are dealing with. I also really agree on the one-word structure. I did not notice your comment this until I had already kind of pondered this idea. I like it. I wrote more about below, but I feel that we agree on this a lot, that there is more power in a word than a phrase, at least for this direction that we're going. Another idea that would develop over time, is where the statement would be - at the beginning, at the end, in the middle, stretched out, individual... so forth. I noticed that you said "at the end." This might be a powerful message as to engage the viewers into wondering and developing a personal feeling towards the sculpture and then giving them the answer. This is a big question: Where should the statement be? Should the viewer know ahead of time what they are walking beside? Should the statement be very bold? Should it be subtle? Would the statement draw attention whether it was bold or subtle? How should it be... where should it be... what should it say? I'm with you on the thought that it should definitely be one-worded. Good-Good :)
DeleteI like both of you guys' ideas and was thinking a little bit about them together. It might be neat to do the whole podium idea and have the wire getting more and more abstracted as someone is walking through and go with just a word or a few words at the end in big letters but these words would be displayed above a big sculpture that is all of those abstracted pieces put together to form the whole that we are trying to convey. So you will walk through the tunnel and see all of these pieces of wire as individuals and then come to the end and have a big cluster of wire with a couple powerful words over the sculpture. Maybe we could have fragments of the word or like one word examples of oppression displayed throughout the tunnel?
Deleteor maybe have examples of self expression throughout the tunnel?
DeleteI look forward to chatting with others about this idea... It can either be built, built upon, or sand bagged... Oh and one more idea / question: Does this sculpture have to be inside? What if it doesn't fit?
ReplyDeleteSo I woke up this morning wondering if this individual wire sculpture was to be created, would it or could it be formed into a symbol? could it include symbolism? What ever sculpture we as a class create, is there some type of symbolism that we could work into the piece? Or is the piece itself a symbol? Maybe it could be symbols inside of a symbol... If our piece did include symbols, which ones? what symbols present a message that we would like gathered from viewers. Maybe our piece could present several messages. It has the possibility to be a great piece to talk about. A piece that could really bring many thoughts to mind. I think this is one place that a readable statement for the piece would be a great way to slightly get some subjects started which would feed deeper discussion on the subject of oppression. While on display, our piece should be able to bring up topics on the subject of oppression instead of just being a "sight for the eye." While it can be this, once a statement is read, the viewer can begin to see deeper than just what first catches the eye. And what ever it is that we create, its always amazing to hear what people have to say about what catches their eye and what comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteWell that's it for now... I'm sure that throughout the day more things will come to mind and I'll try and put them in the right place to pull them back up later! :)
To further ponder the thought of an oppression sculpture, I began to look around on the web for some examples of art that is typically displayed on the subject of oppression. I, personally, was not very impressed. For some reason, when I try and view oppression art, all I see is pain. I know that is what is felt during many types of oppression, but don't most already know this, why do we need to see it again. Everyone knows what rape is, so why do people need to display a woman covered in blood. We all know what suicide is, so why do some artists choose to create a piece of a man hanging from a rope. Many authors that I have already touched on with the subject of oppression say that it is like being tortured, so why does an artist have to put together a photographic seen of death. It basically makes me sick to look at everything under the subject of art/oppression. Maybe I'm looking at this in sort of an opposite way in which others do. I wish that I was able to see more art that displays and speaks of what life is like without oppression. When someone is cared for, held on to, helped, loved, etc... I was able to see a few sculptures that included the word "oppression", which were actually pretty encouraging. These showed someone on their way out of oppression; breaking out. These sculptures showed people climbing, breaking loose. I feel that an art piece on the subject of oppression needs to bring to realization what life is like on the other side. I'm not sure what this Tunnel of Oppression activity will really get into, but I'm sure that there will be plenty of information on what has happened to people and the results of oppression.
ReplyDelete**Is there anyway that we can show the results of life without oppression? Of life when oppression is beaten? When oppression is conquered? When Oppression is solved? When Oppression is cured? ? ? ?
On to my next thoughts: I've been picturing more of this individual wire sculpture and consider copper a material worth trying. I'm sort of copper collector and find myself at pacific often just to look through the piles and imagine what they could become. But anyway, Copper could be a fairly large wire, but still easily shaped and worked with, even colored, patina applied, hammered... the possibilities are pretty endless. It's also very easy to work with because of the ways it can easily be annealed to make working it extremely simple. If we chose to work with with copper, we could also very easily solder all of our joints/individuals together. I have often preferred copper over ferrous at certain times just because of the affect that solder has on the entire piece. it seems like when connecting ferrous, each weld joint becomes part of the piece and almost hidden. I like the way solder stands out.. It speaks right with every other piece of the piece. I also love the affects of weatherization with copper. When copper is annealed, it can be worked so easily that even if we were using say 1/4" inch copper wire, it could be tied in a knot about as easily as a shoe lace. Being "tied in a knot" already has a relation the word "oppression" Working with a material so flexible just brings the number of possibilities to a higher number. A higher number brings me to the next subject. I had talked earlier on how large our sculpture could be, but maybe that's not a great idea, I guess we would just have to see how things worked out and what type of form could be created with so many pieces. But I've been picturing this same curtain type form, but now just having it be long. Something that people can walk down, walk beside, walk with... sort of like a story being told along the way. I like this... I like the idea of a story being told along the way. A story that just doesn't start and end quickly but goes on for a while and really gives the viewer some insight into what happens along the way. I'm sure that when a person is able to speak of their personal oppression throughout time, it's not just a beginning with an instant end, their is much more through out time, deeper that what most realize... which is what needs to be told.
ReplyDeleteIf our sculpture was to be at a decent length, it might be able to hold different symbols throughout, sort of hidden, but visible...
My imagination still hasn't came up with any type of symbolism that goes well with the subject I'm putting together. that's for a later time.
Well, I've let out my latest, we'll see what tomorrow brings - bye for now :)
Wow!
DeleteHere's a few thoughts that came to mind today while I was in math... It's actually really interesting because we were just working with numbers in the 300 to 600 range and I started to imagine all these little copper individuals joined together in the formation of a particular symbol or design that related to oppression or a multitude of subjects that brought peoples mind into the realm of what oppression is like... almost like trying to describe the feelings and thoughts that people who are oppressed or who have climbed out of oppression have. What got me thinking about this is that I think since these objects are relatively small, there needs to be many. One topic that should be noted someway or somehow, possibly in a statement, is that we purposely went to the struggle to create hundreds of these little individuals because that is what oppression is like... It's everywhere, in so many cultures, ways of life. I think it would be great to sort of make an announcement in art that oppression is not just what immediately comes to mind and stick with obvious signs of oppression, but to include many different individual wires which would stand for all of the ways oppression is out there and hidden... In ways we don't even realize.
ReplyDeleteHere is a general list of ways that oppression is seen besides the normal that is often shown in art. I believe this is one great example of why, if an individualized / joined sculpture is created, there should be many: It was written by Adam Blatner, M.D., Titled: EXAMPLES OF SUBTLE OPPRESSION. It can be read fully with explanations of each subject at: http://www.blatner.com/adam/psyntbk/oppressexamples.html
1. Corporal Punishment
2. Fashion
3. Fashion in Toys
4. Partial Responsibility
5. Pornography:
6. Prostitution
7. Hyper-Sexuality in the Media
8. Discourtesy
9. Hazing
12. Hell
13. Boredom
14. Should Wives "Obey"?
15. Contraception
16. Language-ism.
20. Class-ism
21. Types of Authoritarianism
22. Bureaucracy
23. Becoming Offended
24. Intellectual Obscurantism, Jargon, Elitism
25. Expectations Regarding New Communications Media
26. Age-ism I (What's "old")
27. Age-ism II (Young People)
28. Issues in the Mainstream Church
29. Re-Thinking Criminal Law
30. Marijuana Use
31. Prison
32. Is lack of funding for programs a type of oppression if the service delivered is considered necessary?
33. What is and is not a disability, and how can this status be protected from undue manipulation and parasitism?
34. Should parenting be an unquestioned "right"?
35. Cross-Cultural Oppression
36. Impinging on Others (with Noise, Light, Smoke, Smells, etc.)
37. Medical Oppression:
38. How “Tough” Should Authorities Be?
39: Property-ism
40. Abilitism
42. Ability-ism II: What should and should not be considered a “disability”?
43. Oppression of the Printed Word
44. Oppression by Tradition.
So, on to my next thought that arose today:
ReplyDeleteThe subject of a group sculptural statement:
I wondered what it would be like to give each individual, whether they shown as oppressed or un-oppressed / untroubled, a name. I imagined a large print of each individuals name/title. I pictured each individual having a name that described, in one word what or how they feel. A word that explains why they are oppressed. A word that tells how they came out of oppression. A word that tells who helped them come out of oppression. A word that explained the pain they feel.
If we as a class were able to build up at least 300-400 individuals and then join them together, with each having a name, People could read the listed names. They could scan the list. There could be a word that came to mind. There could be one listed that explains themselves. There could be one word that brings a memory of someone they knew.... People could actually even try and match a certain word with an individual inside the sculpture. WoW!!! wouldn't that be great to actually see the word "happy" and try to find it, or look for "exuberance." People might even try and find "gloom" and "torn" and "bored."... This thought excites me more than some of my others because I begin to really imagine when people read and then LOOK. It would be so great if our sculpture, whatever we create, does more to the viewer than cause a glance and walk by. Lets try and stop them for a moment to really take in the sense of oppression and how wide spread it is throughout our entire world.
I pictured this statement to be written out in sort of a "one word sentence" structure. Each word could actually be done different too, as is every individual. Differences in Font, style, color, shape, size, patterned, textured, typed, printed, hand-written, sculpted, stamped, shaded.... the possibilities just keep going. This would be fun to, just to see how many ways words can be written. Each word would be done in a way to correspond to its meaning and individual. I can see this "one word sentence" structure sort of relating to the way oppression has been seen: when people aren't allowed to speak, they are not listened too, they are quiet out of fear, they hold everything in... this one word is like if they were asked to say one word, what would it be. What would this one word be if they knew that with this one word, they were able to tell the world how they feel. This one word doesn't have to be troublesome or simply focused on oppression either. It may be that people who are past oppression are filled with joy. Its amazing to think of how people throughout the world would speak, if they were only allowed one word....?????
I'm signing out and heading to the shop to ponder a few more things. Goodevening and I look forward to chatting in class tomorrow on the subject of oppression. I look forward to hearing how others have put together an idea. :)