Social Commentary
The aim of this project is to create a clear message and emotion through the medium of collage. The challenge was to create two pieces that portray two distinct social issues. My chosen topics were the fear of assault as a woman and the faults of government aid, specifically its painfully slow pace and its inadequacies. The images used in this project can be found here.
The collages above were assembled at 12x18 and scanned digitally at 600 dpi, then printed at 24x36.
Being Woman: I created this image in a cluster to make the viewer feel panicky and to make it seem as though the subject is in the mouth of the beast. The square images and the crammed woman in the center are meant to create a feeling of uncomfort. Around the women are fears ( alley ways, the metro, etc.) warning signs to convey high alert and danger, and products commonly sold to women as devices of self defense. The self defense items are pointed outwards with the women trapped in the center to make them seem cornered.
Pains of Aid: pains of aid shows a flawed system with stacks of money being held back by white picket fences and capitol hill. The shattered hourglass and the slowly hardening lava pouring from it tell a story of how slow and damaging the pace of receiving aid is. The repetition of tortured faces creates a sense of a haunting issue and its effect on many people. At the bottom you can see some outcomes of the lack of aid, living on the streets, not having the money to pay bills, having food stamps but not enough to fill the fridge.
