#cigc reflection

Week 8: Hyper Connectivity // 3.12.18

The hyper-connected world is the definition that embodies today’s society. Everything that we’re doing and all around us, in some way, is hyper-connected. Taking a photo and posting it onto Instagram, is a form of hyper-connecting. Think about it. The coffee you just took a photo of and merely decide to upload onto Instagram where your followers, who consist the majority of your friends and acquaintances can see, is more than that. It goes through the system of the internet, where the data is stored in multiple databases. It is also a hub for people to come and visit, especially if your profile isn’t set to private and it’s essentially able to be reached by millions.

Another example, Youtubers.

They’re one of the prime examples of hyper-connectivity. Being able to record videos and document their lives and uploading it online, instantly connecting to millions and developing a fanbase. This links to designers and creators as well. With the help of Behance and LinkedIn, we’re able to share what we do and connect with potential collaborators. Not to mention, designer websites that you’re able to scroll through their portfolio before deciding if you want to work with them, we live in a day and age where everything is at our fingertips.

Is that good or bad?

We can’t say for sure, but as we progress, everything that we’re used to is leaning to ‘good’ considering it helps our day to day basis needs. Wake up in the morning, check Instagram. On your break, pop into Twitter. Over the day, check through Facebook. All of these platforms are the definition of hyper-connectivity that we’re so used to, we’re desensitised by it on the amount of information we actually share online.

Even this blogpost is ironic.

However, being in the hyper-connected world does spark up some perks. But does it help in terms of art? Sure, we have our portfolios online, where future employers and collaborators are able to read through our concepts and judge our qualification as a designer but that opens a portal for plagiarism. Where do we draw the line of taking inspiration from another’s work without proper credit? How do we differenciate between ‘inspiration’ and ‘inspired by’ with ‘going against the laws of copyright’?

That’s very tricky, considering everything you decide to put out on the internet, there has to be a statement somewhere in between the long terms and conditions we agree to in a second is contradicting to what we actually want to agree on if the terms were blatantly bolded for our eyes to see.

images and the article on: https://www.boredpanda.com/people-caught-copying-plagiarism-stealing-art-knockoffs/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

With our world being so connected, it’s easy to be able to ‘catch’ the culprits of who plagiarised your artwork, but on the other side where our world is so saturated with media through the hyper-connectivity, it makes it also impossible to catch every single one that does. 

However, looking into this topic, we’re able to easily reach our peers and spread our work with portfolios online. We send our resumes and CVs out to be reachable and it creates job opportunities.

We’re able to grow our design community and reach a larger audience because of the hyper-connectivity of today’s age. What would take hundreds of days to spread an artwork back in the day, is now with the touch of our fingertips. A photo that’s uploaded online is able to reach millions and has the potential to create a revolution.

We are able to spread positivities and the greatness of design, reach for feedback from experts around the world and connect with our community. This also gives a chance to those on the opposing end a voice to voice out their disagreements. It can either make or break a designer based on the feedback they receive - also, thinking about if they make a controversial mistake or something that is deem ‘wrong’ to the public eye, their mistakes could be documented on the internet forever.

Thus, tainting their image as a designer.

“Week 7: Queer Theory // 26.11.2018

This week’s topic touched upon Queer Theory, presented by Emily Sparkes. We start off with the definition of Queer Theory, as quoted from Emily’s presentation: “Queer theory is an academic discipline that grew out of Feminist Theory and Gender Studies in the 1990s. It challenges the way that heterosexuality is considered “normal” (terminology: ‘Heteronormativity’) and explores identities or behavior that might be considered “other” or deviant.”

Adding to that, we got to learn why the word ‘queer’ is chosen as it is to reflect these meanings is because it’s much more of an umbrella term. 

Then we were shown a work by David Wojnarowicz, One Day This Kid..., (1990).

According to this website that thoroughly explains about this piece by David Wojnarowicz, it is one that reflects on the social issue of homophobia. It is also one of the first few pieces that featured a picture of himself as a child.

Reading on deeper, there were a few themes that highlighted around this piece and they were (taken from the website as well):

Pre-invented world; “Wojnarowicz was deeply concerned about the power of mass media to reinforce the myths of what he called the “pre-invented world,” the “official reality” whose social rules, regulations, definitions, and expectations he sought to interrogate.”

Childhood; “Drawing from his own personal experience, Wojnarowicz often depicted childhood as a time of danger and oppression.”

Activism; “Although he is primarily remembered today for his fierce AIDS activism (particularly after the death of his mentor Peter Hujar in 1987 and his own diagnosis with AIDS shortly afterwards), Wojnarowicz's art and writings evidenced a broad social critique of injustice throughout his lifetime. He identified with marginal figures - drug addicts, homeless people, prisoners, people with AIDS, queer people - and sought to make obvious the cruelty and hypocrisy of powerful people who persecuted them.”

To me, when I first saw this piece and heard Emily recite it out to us, I remembered feeling the emotions written in the artwork. It’s such a simple and beautiful piece, merely using words and a picture of a boy, but it speaks to you. It puts you in the perspective of someone that’s going to grow up in a world that’s already decided for him with all the preconceived ideas and that’s scary.

I think from here, it really does reflect what is going through a designer’s life or morals based on the work they produce. Passion can bring out the best in people and especially what they believe in through art. Sometimes subliminal and sometimes direct, but oftentimes, it’s something that resonates with an artist that art becomes their medium of bringing forward what they wish to say.

That’s important as a designer and as someone in the creative field. To use this platform as a way to convey a message we strongly believe in and to fight for what we think is right. It doesn’t have to be in a brutal or violent way, but in a civilised and expressive manner of using the works of art to express what we think and feel - to also make a difference along that.

Moving on, we touched upon structuralism and post-structuralism which is something a little bit complicated but Emily had a slide that compares the two easily in point form.

We were then introduced to a guy named Andrew Gurza, who calls himself cripple. 

“Cripple”, when I use it, allows me to take ownership of everyone’s misconceptions of disability. I know you’re scared of me; I know you think I’m different from you, and guess what? I am. I’m owning that as best as I can when I use that word. It is a term of personal empowerment for me. I wouldn’t use it to describe another disabled person without their consent, but for me it helps me navigate the experience of disability with an honesty that I think is really important.

- Andrew Gurza in “Here's What This 'Queer Cripple' Wants You To Know About His Sex Life”, Huffington Post [online] (21st July 2017).

Andrew Gurza’s website, his about page. (link)

Andrew is simply an inspirational guy, who not only uses his confidence to talk about things that matter but chooses to do it to help others as well. 

A thing that stood out to me was the question is Queer Theory a way of Life?

How can a relational system be reached through sexual practices? Is it possible to create a homosexual mode of life? … To be “gay,” I think, is not to identify with the psychological traits and the visible masks of the homosexual, but to try to define and develop a way of life. 

- Michel Foucault, “Friendship as a Way of Life”  The Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, (Volume One).  Translated by Robert Hurley (New York: The New Press, 1997), 135-140

Obviously not all gay, lesbian and transgender people live their lives in radically different ways from their heterosexual counterparts, but part of what has made queerness compelling as a form of self-description in the past decade or so has to do with the way it has the potential to open up new life narratives and alternate relations to time and space.  - Jack Halberstam, In a Queer Time & Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 1-2.

In today’s society and age where everyone has their own opinions and thoughts, I think it’s fine to live however you want as long as you’re not harming anyone around you... or yourself. We live in a world so full of judgements that are not necessary - we all should be able to exist together in harmony regardless of what you identify with.

Week 6: Psychoanalysis // 19.11.2018

Initially when I saw the title of this week’s lecture, all I could think about is: welp, here we go, I’m going to lose my mind in an hour and rather contrary, not so. If anything, other than spiralling down in thoughts, I learnt a thing or two and I was rather grasped into the topic - which was great, always.

Psychoanalysis, what is it?

Well, according to Oxford Dictionaries, it can be defined as:

‘A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.’

If that right off the bat doesn’t get you in, I don’t know what will.

Why is it relevant to talk about this?

I think it’s important because whatever that’s happened in your past, will most definitely surface into the present and in someway, psychoanalysis could possibly help to cure it. Thinking about this further, about how your past will affect your future, I start to wonder about the designing process.

Does your subconscious and believes, along with your past experiences, does it affect your design choices today? Let’s say, if in your past you have a bad memory with the color red. Something happened, you fall off your bike, you end up with a bleeding knee and from then on, you despise the color red. Will that transition well when you’re now a designer and you’re assigned to a brand with a big M and bright red and yellow?

How would that effect you going to your day to day job? How would that influence your design choices or will you continue being a designer if it meant seeing those colors that bring you trauma each day? I don’t know, this is just word vomit but it’s a thought that came to mind.

To further understand this concept, I googled ‘psychoanalysis’ and the first article that popped up was Simply Psychology, with an article about this very topic.

Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).  Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining insight.

The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e., make the unconscious conscious. It is only having a cathartic (i.e., healing) experience can the person be helped and "cured."

- Simply Psychology, written by Saul McLeod, published 2007, updated 2014

Along with it, there was a video that provides a better understanding on this topic. All theories that he’s mentioned like free association, dream analysis and slip of the tongue were interesting but the last one caught my attention. I mean yes, we’ve all had dreams that we’ve looked up to find what it means or to make sure that we’re not foreshadowing our own death but the slip of the tongue was rather... interesting.

How if you ‘accidentally’ say something you’re not meant to say, you’re actually portraying your thoughts? 

(Sourced from Simply Psychology website)

The picture above is a perfect explanation to what Freud meant with his concept and theory of this. While I do agree on one hand, but on the other, not so. It’s not accurate, per se, with how a mistake translates to your thoughts. Surely, some would argue and say “of course it’s not accurate, you don’t know for sure what you don’t know what you’re thinking,” - which, valid. But if you don’t know that’s what you’re thinking, how do you know that should be a part of your unconscious? Ah, this is getting very, very tricky to make sense of, but this does bring my mind into a merry-go-round.

Another thing Freud came about to were the Id, Ego and Superego.

(Sourced from Simply Psychology)

That photo summarizes it clearly, but to put it into context, one slide from Ally’s presentation really explained it through.

Going in deeper in terms of art, Jacques Lacan, he was a French psychoanalyst and philosopher. In the realms of art, he’s most-well known for his idea of ‘the mirror phase’.

Forgive Ourselves Editorial Illustration by Jun Cen.

(Sourced from Jun Cen’s website)

While there are a selection of theories that Freud explored and explained on, these were the few I found interesting. Along with Jacques Lacan’s theories on the human mind and human behavior. It was interesting discussing about the topic and listening further about it. Will definitely look into more of this.

But looking it in the point view of graphic design and how these theories could play a role in the industry today, these could be interesting to be used in concept development and idea generating. How certain theories like dream meaning, for example, could aid in developing concepts based on what dreams mean and how it could link to social issues ind today’s age. That not all we dream of is simply in the figment of our imagination, but something that speaks to what could be happening in the world now.

Just a thought!

Week 5: Politics of the Image // 12.11.2018

Politics... I’m bad at them. And by that, I mean I try to steer away from them as much as possible because I don’t know if it’s worse that I know too much or I don’t know enough. It’s such a tricky topic to even talk about, without sounding like you support one party more than the other (which you probably would if you vote, which... you should) but is it possible to stay neutral?

I feel like parents or the household you grow up in, already gives you a slight notion of the part of politics you nod and the ones you curse at. Mine just happens to be avoiding it at all costs until it’s being brought up onto the dinner table... or when it’s in the lecture presented in front of you.

But here’s a summary of this week’s topic and up to my best ability with some notes and points of references. Oh, and the references shown, too.

We were first shown this picture upon the beginning of the lecture. It’s true, yes it is, but what about it is true? Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful... switch it around and have a thought.

“Make truth sound like lies.”

Still works for me. Politicians could most definitely make the truth sound like lies to mask up the truth, to play tricks on the public and to be in control. That thought alone just makes me squint my eyes at politics because it’s so complicated.

Then I took a look at some political artists. I mean, since the topic of the lecture is politics of the image, it’s something to do with the political reasons that are behind an image, and how things may not be as they seem. To some pictures there’s an underlying tone of some hidden political messages, either playing with your conscious or your subconscious.

I took a look at a website called The Art Story, a website dedicated to promoting political activists and artists. A great website and a place to start to understanding political artists.

1. Banksy

Kissing Coppers (2004) Tackling not only a pro-gay issue to be brought to the public but many more as well. The good sides of policemen, how they’re human, how they crave for love and affection as well. The bond between police officers. It was rather interesting that this art piece had a positive acceptance by the public.

“The piece can be read in many ways. In one respect, Banksy is advocating for a sexual-identity accepting society by placing icons of authority in a pro-gay position. His use of policemen, rather than ordinary citizens, is intriguing, because the very subjects of his tender portrayal are often the ones to working to eradicate his vandalism. While some believe that he is poking fun at policemen, showing them in a vulnerable, intimate moment, others read the work more positively, as showing a human side to the police force, and emphasizing the strong bonds that exist on the police force between partners and teammates. The work is an undeniable testament to Banksy's use of irony to challenge us to build a bridge of understanding between expected enemies of ideology.“ - The Art Story

Rage, The Flower Thrower (2005) I think even without the narrative, it’s clear that this guy is dressed up in a riot gear and what you would expect for it to be a smoke bomb or anything harmful, it’s replaced with flowers - to represent peace instead of war. It’s a good message to be spreading around with just a visual that is empowering and have a deep meaning to it. 

By substituting a weapon with a bunch of flowers, Banksy is advocating  peace instead of war, and he opted to install this message of peace in a high-conflict area. The work also carries the message that peace comes with active hard work. The bouquet of flowers in this work, in addition to symbolizing peace, life, and love, may also be understood as commemorating lost lives in an age old religious conflict. It is a fine example of Banksy's use of art to relay messages of social importance. - The Art Story

Show Me the Monet (2005) Reading through the narrative, apparently the shopping carts are representing consumerism and how these man-made objects are polluting nature... which is a thing that’s happening nowadays. It’s sad to see us as humans, destroying the nature that we’ve been granted with, and how selfish we are.

By using shopping carts, an image associated with consumerism, Banksy's message is that society is focused on material goods, buying more than is necessary in a futile attempt to make ourselves feel happy and fulfilled. Moreover, by representing these man-made objects as discarded in an otherwise beautiful natural setting, he critiques contemporary society's disregard for nature in favor of commodity fetishism and the production of excessive waste, Even the title of Banksy's work has subverted the meaning of the original, with the word money being a play on Monet, which can be read as a critique of the commercialization of art. - The Art Story

Next, another thing I found interesting was an artwork done by Dmitri Vrubel, in which he painted Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing of socialist brotherhood on the Berlin Wall. With this, he has created the most famous mural of the Cold War.

My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love in 1991

I decided to search the meaning for this, a deeper understanding of what it meant to recreate this piece and that was through this interview he did with Calvert Journal, interviewed by Andrey Borzenko.

Before this, I had no idea of the photo that was taken and of this painting on the Berlin Wall. Reading through the interview and reading what Dmitri talked about his whole experience about painting on this wall, what he had gone through to recreate it the second time after losing his rights to the art piece because he signed a sheet of paper from a random girl standing by the wall the first time he painted it, there’s just so much into it. It’s admirable how he never even saw getting fame as a part of it - he simply wanted to make a statement based on how the wall separates two countries, but the image he paints on it is one filled with love.

It’s a powerful tool, when you’re able to utilise it and place it on a location that holds meaning. The irony becomes satire and that together becomes impact. Before Dmitri knew it, this became an iconic piece of art that not only shaped people’s views but became history.

I think I’ll end this post at here - and how art not only has the power to change the world, but it is able to change your perception on things. It can become a tool to get you educated, to make you interested, to make you want to learn, to make you want to make a difference.

And that, is incredible.

(Even if it’s used in politics.)

Week 4: Global Disclosure // 05.11.2018

This week’s topic was Global Disclosure, which I found refreshing considering I was a foreigner in the city of Birmingham, having flown 15 hours away from home to listen to a lecture that reflected much to a feeling I’ve felt one way or another since I got here. Well, in regards to discussing and openly talking about race, being Chinese in the United Kingdom... was indeed scary.

First thoughts were definitely, “I’m so much more different than them.”

Second: “Will I be treated differently?”

Third: “I just want to go home.”

It didn’t come one by one, it all came at once. Which was hard to compute with such thoughts coming at once but... well, I had to come to the UK to further my studies, a place I thought would be good for me to grow as a graphic designer and broaden my experience. Which then led me to think, do people crave feeling out of place, trying to break down the walls of their comfort zone to somewhat, force themselves to grow?

I mean, I would say I was growing quite well in Malaysia, but what is it with the mentality of coming to the UK alone, would make me a better designer? Or a better person? I think somewhat it has to do with feeling gratitude of what I used to have at home that I don’t have here. And linking to those emotions, I could relate to most of what Ally talked about during this lecture. Racism (I haven’t exactly had my hand on experiencing it, but I have heard numerous stories about the people in my community being mistreated just because of their race), culture appropriation.

It was weird. I didn’t quite get it, but I found it interesting that Ally discussed a little on White Privilege. It’s one thing for people of other race to acknowledge white privilege, but it’s another when a white person admits of such thing exists. That just confirms how much it does exist and how arrogance is a wonder for people who refuse to acknowledge it exists.

New Study Confirms Depressing Truth About Names And Racial Bias By Jacqueline Howard, HuffPost US

"Students with stereotypically "black"-sounding names tend to be labeled as troublemakers by teachers. Job applicants with such names are less likely than their white-sounding counterparts to get called in for interviews. When residents with "black"-sounding names contact their local government for information about schools or libraries, they are less likely to receive a response. “

That was taken from the article above, which... is sad. How can a name, something that you wear around your neck like a medal, a seal that your parents put you with for the rest of your life could be something that already forms prejudice by the sound of it? It felt unfair. It didn’t feel right, either.

I’ve heard from a friend, from her experience, that people without English sounding names had a harder time being employed. Which, was ridiculous when I heard it but when she described it further, it just felt unfair.

That also leaves me to think about racism that exists in the designing industry or how we as designers are evolving to grow out of it.

While writing this post, my mind strayed off to a thought of:

“Does race come into mind for certain job scopes?”

Like, we’ve always heard of asians becoming doctors and surely a specific race should be working in this job and so forth. All of this preconceptions does effect in their every day lives with such judgement that’s put forth before you even get to voice out what you truly want to do.

Speaking from experience, as a Chinese Malaysian that wanted to do graphic design and arts for a living, to have supportive Chinese parents, to me, was normal and something that I’m grateful for. On the other hand, I have a friend, similarly in the situation I was in, except, parents that weren’t so accepting of her choice in wanting to pursue graphic design.

“This won’t earn you money.”

“Chinese people are not meant to do arts. Becoming a doctor is better.”

And with that, she was pushed into studying dentistry and hadn’t had her say in pursuing her initial career choice. Granted, in Asian countries, parents are the ones paying for our education, compared to in Western countries, the children are much more independent working part time jobs to help pay for their tuition fees - nothing wrong with both, just different upbringings and environments.

However, that shifts the mentality as well.

I find that in the Western country, things are much more open and direct in communication than in Asian countries. We tend to keep things all to ourselves and majority of the time, confrontation isn’t a common thing to bring upon. Of course, we, as a community and part of the world is moving forward but it’s a slow process. Continuing on with that, I had a chat with a friend who lived in England and he said that the parents here (in the UK) allow their kids to pursue what they wanted as a job - to do what they loved most. Definitely there will be the similarities to Asian parents but that’s not so common than in Asian countries.

This leads me to think that as much as we want to believe that all humans think a certain way, based on the race we’re born into, it already shapes our perceptions on certain things and issues. But what we can do is acknowledge our differences and accept them, then we could maybe live in a world that sucked less with so much preconceptions. 

Week 3: Gender Discussion // 29.10.2018

The question we first get asked is: “Why is it important to talk about gender?”

Well, mainly because gender equality is still a thing that exists.

I googled up some gender equality statistics just to get a general grasp of what’s going on or the numbers that are being up to date and... um...

1. 21 Facts About Gender Inequality You Need To Know Now

Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 percent of their male counterparts' earnings. Talk about how much you earn, and report inequality. Learn about how to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC here. (White House) 

African-American women earn 64 cents and Latina women earn 56 cents for every dollar earned by a Caucasian man. Lean In offers resources for negotiation in the workplace. (White House)

62 million girls are denied an education all over the world, and former First Lady Michelle Obamastarted shining a light on this issue through her Let Girls Learn initiative in 2015. #UpForSchool wants to continue to fight to change that. Sign their petition here. (UN Foundation; 62 Million Girls)

2. Genderstats

I mean, from that alone, there’s already a difference between men and women that is clearly being shown today. Countless of statistics and data being shown that women are being mistreated as compared to men. Women don’t earn as much as men do even if they do the same workload if not more. Men are known for working hard because they should and women should be cleaning. Should that actually be the way?

Yet, some people think that gender shouldn’t be a big deal. But... it is. When asked what are the things we identify ourselves with, surely I could say I’m a happy-go-lucky person or I’m a hardworking dude but when someone asks you to describe a person, the pronoun you use whether it’s a ‘he’ or ‘she’ is already a part of someone’s identity. Gender is a part of an identity whether we like it or not and it does play an important role. In my opinion, at least.

A little experience I’ve had with gender is that growing up in Malaysia, there’s a slight ‘thing’ where guys had the freedom to going out more than girls. In my case, my brother is a year older than me, but because he’s a guy, he was allowed to head out more compared to me. While he was allowed to stay out late past midnight, I had to come back home by midnight because I was a girl.

Which I understood my parents’ intentions. It’s dangerous for a girl to head out at night, let alone alone, let alone past midnight. But isn’t it dangerous for a guy, too? Not only bad things can happen to girls, but because we see things on the news that paint it for it to be way more dangerous than it is for guys, we’re more inclined to stay in than to have the freedom to go out like guys do.

Which sucked, by the way. But it wasn’t like I could do much about it. Until the news started showing that not only rape cases happened to girls but to guys as well, it was a new thing in Malaysia that started to treat guys and girls as equals. We still have our preconceived notions, but it’s getting there.

That brings to another point of how guys don’t really open up about their feelings as compared to girls. Or how guys are seen and painted to be ‘strong’, which is why when they talk about their feelings, it’s ‘weak’. Which is not healthy, too. Or how girls are able to hold hands with their friends and it’s considered platonic, but as soon as guys start holding other guys hands, it’s ‘gay’? Double standards, definitely, but just something that has been a norm nowadays.

Thinking about this further, to put it into the industry context or when it comes to finding a job, do women have less chances compared to men? Below is a chart by YouGov, shows statistics of some interesting numbers.

So even if we were to say we’re moving forward to a world of equal opportunity immaterial of gender, these numbers and continuous research tells us otherwise. Which... is a little sad, when you think about it, but I believe that we’re constantly progressing forward especially with associations and groups that empower women to drive ahead.

Unilever, their bit on empowering women and providing sustainable jobs to all

Why Men Oppress Women, Steve Taylor Ph.D.