Madeline Jimenez

This class introduced many new challenges to me that brought me out of my comfort zone. I had to collaborate with others and learn to compromise each other’s ideas and interests . I had to be more reflective with what I’m doing and why I am doing it. I had to break out of my comfort zone. It took some time to adjust to these new ways of working and thinking. I can’t say I did great from the start. It wasn’t until the last few months of this semester that I really began to understand the value in all of these things. This class was a constant challenge, not just because of the course material, but also the strong engagement it required of me. It’s been hard for me to find my voice among everyone else and I would say my insecurities are to blame. I’ve always been more of a listener, despite always being full of ideas and things to say. I have been noticing my growth in these last few months. I’m understanding the value in not only being a listener, but someone who gives their own insight. The work I’ve produced for this class is nothing similar to what I’ve done previously. Although working in unfamiliar ways was frustrating at times, I couldn’t be more excited about everything there is to take away from these new experiences.

Since leaving campus, it has been challenging to stay focused. I felt unmotivated most days. It was harder for me to engage with the body extension project especially because I was already having a hard time understanding it. 3D was never my strong suit and I was having trouble coming up with ideas even before online classes. It wasn’t until I took time to alter my idea that I felt more engaged with the assignment. I didn’t expect to get as excited about the (re)mapping project as I did. It’s been one of my favorite projects that I’ve worked on this semester. I don’t believe I would’ve come to this idea if it wasn’t for the recent events and circumstances. I believe it has caused me to reflect more deeply on not just things that have happened this year, but the impact everything has made on me and the emotional experience that came with it.

(Re)Mapping Statement-

The idea for my body extension first started when my previous group wanted to create extensions that demonstrated ways we connect and show our “love”. Some ways were effective and some were the opposite. My original idea was that my extension would show how I was trying to connect with others, but coming off as too aggressive. My extension would create lots of noise that was meant to attract people except it would end up scaring others away. Since we were sent home from campus, I’ve altered this idea. It didn’t fit who I was because I am usually the more quiet type. Instead the extension would aid me in social interaction. I created two separate extensions of my hands/arms that sort of acted as cymbals. They create noise that asserts my presence. My goal was to make something that would bring more attention to myself and mask the shyness that tends to hinder my social experience.

Here are photos to show progression in the assembly of the piece over this past week. I used lots of red thread to connect all of the individual parts. There is no pattern or specific direction of the thread because I wanted the flow to be as natural and reflexive as emotion itself.

Notes!

Not gonna lie, writing out these notes for the final piece wasn’t easy. Finding the right words for some very complex emotions is never easy. These notes don’t capture my emotions perfectly either. They’re not meant to be perfect descriptions. They’re meant to be my genuine thoughts and unplanned words to help express the mindsets I encountered this year. I didn’t type them out or make them pretty because I wanted to keep the writing as unintentional and subconscious as possible. Finding the right words wasn’t my only obstacle though. The hardest part is sharing the notes and letting people read them. I struggled with the words so much because I’m embarrassed of people reading my thoughts. Openly sharing such personal things had me cringing a bit. Even as I made this post I thought about scribbling the words out.

I haven’t talked much about my body extension in a while. I was supposed to do some documenting outside but the weather didn’t agree with me today. So here is an update until then.

This is the end result as far as appearances go, pretty simple build. I kept the inside of each extension open to increase the noise level when they clash together.

As I said in class before leaving campus, my extension is meant to be an attention drawer. When we were in groups we talked about creating extensions that were meant to express ways we connect with others, or at least try. Mine was centered around trying to connect, but trying too hard in the process. Therefore, people would avoid me instead because of this aggressive approach.

Remapping progress

Since my last post I’ve been gathering more and more images with the help of my tripod. The picture taking part ended up being a week long process. Some days offered better opportunities than others as far as lighting goes. My inspiration and creativity came and went so it was definitely a process.

So here are the final images that I will be using (i may not use one or two but idk yet). Due to the world being sorta shut down at the moment, so are most of the printing services. Now I am relying on expedited shipping to deliver prints to me asap, fingers crossed! That being said, I’m having all of these photos printed for now and will decide which to keep once they’re here. In the image above you can see the photos are sorta grouped into four categories. They will be grouped in these four categories in the final piece as well (no particular placement).

Hiii okay so I’m getting really excited for this re-mapping project because I’m finally starting to come to a solid vision. As I said in my previous post, I want to incorporate photography as my main medium in this project using myself as the subject. I hope to create numerous expressive shots by playing with motion, exposure lengths, overlay, composition, lighting, etc. I want to create groups (or “pages” as I previously stated) using a number of assorted photographs in each group. Each group would act as a category of emotion or state of mind that I encountered throughout this school year. Though, my last post left off on an uncertain note. I didn’t know how to present the photos in a way that would enhance my overall idea. I also like the idea of incorporating written word about my thoughts to compliment the photos. I first thought about a book of some sort where I’d place photos and write on each page. But I don’t think a book-like presentation adds to my idea. It’s too linear. I’ve decided to go with a non-linear form of presentation that emphasizes the reality of a messy thought process, but overall connection. A back-and-forthness between emotions over time. I’ll use string between printed photos to demonstrate this. Sort of a map-like visual of my mind throughout this year.

Some inspiration from my work and other artists:

Collage or assortment of photos

(using myself as subject)

over a series of pages

-Page showing excitement and feelings of newness

-Page showing struggles with self esteem and comparing myself to others

-Page showing feelings of loneliness

-Page showing gained knowledge and experiences from people and class

-communicate the various states of mind I went through and experienced throughout this first year at college and Stamps.

-use portraits or more focused areas of the body while playing with motion, long exposes, multiple exposures, lighting, composition

Our ideas for the body extension project