Thursday Post. 10.22.

Day after mid term crit.
In my critique, I showed 25 different 4"x6" images. The images were split about 50/50 between Planet Earth stills and broken LCD screens. I love that I have been able to keep abstraction as a main focus in my project. This is also a way for me to explore color without being vibrant without a purpose. I plan on developing this project further by focusing on fractals and where they exist in nature as well as the way in which they are produced digitally. Crystals have been a big inspiration because they are so complex and yet scientists have been making them in labs for years. Another inspiration in making this work is the developing Weather Technology being produced in China. This technology is wild, men were literally shooting rockets of silver iodide into the clouds to prevent rain from interfering with the 2008 Olympics. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-29-china-rain_x.htm)

The way in which humans are duplicating nature is mind boggling. There is very little that human beings actually need to survive. Food, Water, Shelter. Greed and capitalism have pushed human beings to drive mother nature farther back. As a species we have lost touch with how things are made. Look around your living room, could you duplicate any of the objects in it? We exist in a world of digital communication, email, blogging, the majority of us have no respect for our planet.

I know I'm throwing out a lot of blanket statements that can't possibly apply to everyone on the earth, but in my work I am looking to explore the appeal of the show Planet Earth and why it makes it's viewers feel so much closer to nature, when in fact we never set foot outside of the living room.

Planet Earth is the only documentary that I have seen about the Earth without obvious human involvement. Typically the format is a rugged looking man jumping from rock to rock and teaching you how to safely drink urine if trapped out in the elements. Planet Earth shows the untouched parts of the planet in a way that makes the viewer feel as if they are personally communing with the scenery. In addition to my screen shots, I would like to show images that I shoot on my own...equally abstract and somewhat indistinguishable from the other images, except lacking pixels. Paul's idea was to shoot through window glass, with water drops on the surface. This comparison between real life and life that exists on the screen compared to moments that never truly existed, such as the broken LCD is what I've been thinking about. It's really overwhelming to dissect all of these elements at once, it's easier on my brain to think about it in pieces.