Take a "Look" Closer
The motive behind this piece was to incorporate a map, of any kind, into the artwork. The first step for this project was to familiarize yourself with the different elements of the map, so I started with a blank template of the United States of America and just colored it in.
I call it "Are We High?" because of the use of the psychedelic colors and patterns throughout the states, as well as the abstract designs.
While I was filling in this map, I began to think about what I was going to do for my final piece. I began experimenting different versions of maps; how could I be creative?
I was debating which idea to use.
My idea of the "map of my eye" interested me the most. To start, I cut out a map of a national park from a large atlas, and went to work!
The concept of this piece encourages viewers to look around where they are living, but it requires a bit of an explanation. I artistically drew the letters "LOOK" through the middle of the paper, in the shape of the railroad tracks. The "capital", or iris of the eye, watches the train, representing 2022, go through the landmark destinations of the year, focusing on the imminent issues and their ramifications. I included the Russian-Ukrainian crisis with casualties of over 3000 civilians (at the time of drawing), the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in over 6.2 million deaths, the international poverty emergency, with over 620 million people living in conditions deemed "unlivable", the climate change calamity contributing to the rise in ocean levels (3.16") and finally gender equality issues still to this day (women earn 83 cents for every $1 a man earns).
Finally, I added silhouettes of people walking through the year.
