HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD.

So for this third project I decided to purchase a moleskin journal and write a little inspiration story in it, in hopes that person who ends up finding it will continue it on. I hid the journal with other moleskins at the UNM Book Store -- so hopefully the next person who wants to journal finds this exciting!

Fluorescent Reflections

Birdseed Wreaths

So, for this project, I stuck with my theme of emphasizing the value of nature. After talking to Ashli, I talked to a few other environmental/wildlife biologists and they led me to new insight. They talked about how nature gives a home to endangered plant and animal species, especially birds, and that's why they find New Mexico's landscape meaningful. This made me want to be more interactive with native wildlife. So I made bird wreaths. Bird wreaths are molds of a birdseed mixture (water, flour, honey, birdseed, dried fruit) that have been baked and can then be hung from trees to attract birds.

I ran in a few problems with the wreaths. My plan was to make two large ones and hang them on two separate trees, but the broke. The first one shattered because I made it too thin (I had hoped for it to be light enough to sustain it's own weight whilst hanging from the tree) and the next one was too heavy to support it's own weight so as soon as I hung it, it fell and shattered. So I decided to make mini wreaths, which came out alot better.  

From my interviews, I learned that the most common place to find birds is behind restaurants. So I decided to hang the wreaths on trees behind the Taj Mahal restaurant in Albuquerque. I didn't wait to see if any birds ventured to those specific trees but I hope they did.
                                       

"Original, Clever Title Goes Here"

 French

German

Romanian

Spanish

 Dutch

English

I originally wanted to do my third project in Tijeras but being broke, low on gas, and not having another ride changed that.  I ended up doing my project in the laundry room of my apartment complex.  It's a pretty boring place so I thought I would liven it up a bit.  I have been wanting to do a project at my apartments anyway and this seemed like a good place.  A place where I would not be thwarted by security guards.

I chose to write the phrase "Live the mustache," because I thought it would perplex the other tenants and get them wondering, "Huh?"  I got the idea to write the phrase in different languages from this public art piece in France.  It has "love" written all over it in several different languages.

The point of my first two projects was to make people laugh.  I have the same goal with this one.  I hope it works!

Felt Like Trash

We decided to use trash as a social symbol. Corinne's interview brought up several social issues related to the concept, and Autumn's brought up the idea of public interaction and getting "up close and personal" with our subjects. Because we were dealing with a relatively sensitive topic, however, we interacted with our subjects anonymously via an online survey. We chose the question "Have you ever felt like trash?" and left it up to the subject's interpretation. We posted the responses we received onto these photographed silhouettes of people holding trash in front of their face. These were then placed in trash cans under the near the humanities building, where they blended in with the overcast and shadowed dismal atmosphere. 

Each of these pieces stood out of the trash can a good two to three feet. Also, they were all in close proximity to each other, enough that someone walking through would see at least two. The vague silhouette with text draws people in, then within the text is the repetition of the phrase "felt like trash." Almost all the responses say "I felt like trash when..." or "...made me feel like trash," etc, paired with the literal representation of a person in the trash can.
Between the size, contrast, multiplicity, and text, these are eye-catching. Just while we were there we saw several people glance at them and then walk up to read what it has to say.

Enough with the signs already..

For this project, I wanted to incorporate specific dorm related issues into  my silly bulletins. In my interviews, people brought up a few problems they had with their living experiences in the dorm. I decided to bring light to a few of these issues in my signs that I put up. Unfortunately, many of the problems they had were aimed at a specific person or group of people and I didn't want to mess with the community as a whole by dividing it. One person I interviewed specifically brought up the hairy situation in the bathrooms and study rooms so I made a sign that reflected that. Similarly, I made a sign that referenced the stolen couch cushion that has been missing since the first week of school. I wanted to tackle more issues, but there weren't enough problems that I could do without totally offending both the residents and staff alike.  The purpose of my project remained the same. I want to bring up possible issues while putting a funny twist to it.

Easy Rider

For my project I decided to bring the idea of longboarding being about the individual from my interview and rework it into my project. So, what I did was get a bunch of shirts and I wrote on mine "the art of longboarding and self expression" and on the back I wrote "what does longboarding mean to you?". I then took 5 other shirts and approached other longboarders. I then asked them to write on the shirt what longboarding meant to them and what it said about them as an individual or artist. I did this in order to bring the people into my project, get them to involve themselves and let others know how their longboarding was an extension of themselves. I encouraged them to wear the shirts and explain to people what it was all about if they asked.