#journal7

Theme:

Seven cardinal Sins 

——pride, envy, greed, lust, wrath, sloth, gluttony

Inspiration 

My inspiration for this project came from Se7en the movie directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. In the movie, the murder use the sign of seven sins to select his victim. After watched the movie, I considered that seven sins were in each of us as long as we are human. Although these are negative parts in human nature, we need to face up to these evil parts. In my project, I expressed sins by people’s behavior, the status of different objects, and I used different color to symbolize each of sins. By doing so, I want to normalize these sins, and appeal people to confront these sins instead of escape them. In addition, I hope that people can realize that sins existed in the depth of one's soul, when people experience these impulses they can flight back the guilty and shame, because none can eliminate them but people can control and restrain them effectively. 

The location of installation:

Rush Rhees Library — Level B

Book: The seven sins, by Aurdey Wurdeman, 1911- 1960

            River campus libraries, Level B, PS3545. W967se

   In Rush Rhees library, there is no typical location that directly relate to the theme of my project. In order to make a connection between my project and installation location, I searched some books about seven sins. Most books of this type located in the level 500m of the Rhees Library, where was the area of religious book. But I don’t think that seven sins just relate to religions, if I instal my project in there, it seems that I forcedly add a definition for seven sins. Then I found the book—The seven sins, by Aurdey Wurdeman. It was a collection of poems, which talked about seven sins from author’s view and didn’t give any typical definition for seven sins.The content of this book was relate to the theme of my project. The book located in the level B of Rush Rhees library, then I installed my project around this book.

   Because my inspiration of this project came from Se7en which was a suspense movie, the detective needed to follow each line to find murder. Thus, I installed my project as a way of finding process, which related to the theme of movie. I left information of the book in each single image, and putted these image in the floor. Audiences can find book, little by little, by the clues in each image. Through this way audiences can enjoy the project as well as participate in the project. I think that audience’s participation is very important part in an art showing, because audience can understand art ark better when they have participation.

Meaning of color

Violet-pride: pride is that a person feels more special or important than others, and the color violet is often associated with royalty, nobility, power, and ambition, then I used it to express pride.

Magenta-lust: magenta is a combination of red and violet, it is a feminine color, and it has sexual connotations in many conditions.

Golden&Orange-gluttony&greed: these two colors always be used for symbolization of wealth and status, then I used them to express greed and gluttony.

Green-envy: green color represented evil in the Middle Ages, then it is better to express envy.

Red-wrath: red exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy, thus it can express wrath.

Blue-sloth: sloth is the act of being lazy or idle, blue color represent peace or quite, thus I used this to express sloth. 

Music:

The Unfolding of Language

In chapter 7, Deutscher gives the readers 6 paragraphs that show the development of the English language. The first paragraph is the simple “me Tarzan” stage, which is formatted in a straightforward actor then action setup. For example, “girl fruit pick turn mammoth see girl run” (Deutscher, 210). In the second paragraph, the words are switched up a little. This changes what the action is being placed on. For example, “girl pick fruit turn see mammoth girl run” (220). The third paragraph shows how grammatical conventions were added to make sentences more elaborate. For example, “girl pick fruit turn see mammoth she run to tree” (235). In his fourth paragraph, Deutscher adds property words (possessives, quantifiers, plural markers, and articles) in order to show how items function. For example, “a girl pick fruit turn see a huge mammoth she run to the nearest tree” (244). The fifth paragraph is where nouns and verbs are added. This is when concrete things are changed into abstract ideas. For example, “A girl was picking fruit one day. Suddenly she heard some movement behind her. She turned around and saw a huge mammoth. She ran to the nearest tree and climbed it” (254). The final paragraph that Deutscher provides us with is where current language stands today. For example, “A girl who was picking fruit one day suddenly heard some movement behind her. She turned around and saw a huge mammoth charging straight at her. She ran to the nearest tree and climbed up it...” (259).

In order from top to bottom.. 

Alternative History Mural.

Uncommon Friends Fountain. 

Caloosahatchee River. 

               The City of Fort Myers began much before being officially discovered by Ponce de Leon. The Calusa Indians and early settlers battled with each other over land use and overall control over the area. The influx of English explorers brought more than just people, it brought diseases that ended up dropping the population substantially. This paved the way for the Seminole Indians to come in and take over the land. The Seminole Wars eventually led to the naming of the city, Fort Myers. Geneiggs named it Fort Myers as a gift to his son-in-law Abraham Myers. Between this time, and the early 1900s, Fort Myers was a major hub for Black Federal Troops, cattle ranching, and the transportation of food and people during the Civil War. The city of Fort Myers really began to bloom  and grow after the war. The city developed a courthouse, small businesses, and public transportation. This helped lay the foundation for future progress and restoration projects to come like the City of Palms and the man-made river basins to clean the river water. These projects are part of the city’s focus on “Smart Growth” which focuses on sustainable development.  

I am actually pretty appalled at this week’s podcast. This episode of 99% Invisible told the story of a certain public art piece by a man named Richard Ankrom. Richard got confused by a poorly marked road sign, and then held a grudge over it for ten years. Instead of at least attempting to call the department of transportation to correct this grievance, Ankrom decided to skip straight to taking matters into his own hands in an act of what Roman Mars adorably called “Guerilla Public Service.”

After spending months researching and painfully recreating the missing signage, Ankrom’s plan was to install the piece himself 30 feet over the busy highway. He was an artist acting on his own for the good of the community, and I thought it was all really cool right up until he started talking about his preparations the night before. He sat in a tree and contemplated the job before him, and briefly considered that if he, an amateur, were to make a mistake, innocent people could be seriously injured or even killed. Then he shrugged and did it anyway.

His friends watched on and eagerly recorded as he endangered himself and strangers. Crazy Rick’s at it again. Not one of them thought to reason with him or tell him how incredibly selfish he was being for valuing his art over human lives.

Even if the installation went without a hitch, Ankrom had no intention of telling anyone what he had done and he would have been happy to leave his sign there forever. If so much as one screw wasn’t in quite as tight as he had thought, that sign could have actually killed someone.

Word did eventually get out however and actual Caltrans workers came to inspect Ankrom’s DIY project. They found that his craftsmanship was in fact up to snuff, and while they weren’t happy with his methods, there was really no harm done. Wow, said my literal first thought, you reaaally have to do your research.

I don’t think what Ankrom did was okay, but to give him credit he did really do his homework—his handiwork was so good that the city wouldn’t have even noticed that it wasn’t their sign had someone not clued them in. A poorly researched and thought-out project could result in an embarrassing critique, or in catastrophe. Putting in the time and the research needed to do something right is imperative.

The parallels to my current Bookforms project are obvious.