Knowledge and Power

Something I am really interested in is stories - specifically why some people's stories get told and others don't. In a project I did for my contemporary art class in 2018, I explored this idea using a pile of old books and a bandsaw.

Something I am really interested in is stories - specifically why some people's stories get told and others don't. In a project I did for a contemporary art class in 2018, I explored this idea using a pile of old books and a bandsaw.

There was virtually no criteria for this assignment, so I navigated that by using that opportunity of complete creativity to explore a topic of injustice and storytelling in a medium I had never previously tried - 3-D sculpture.

In this sculpture, each book represents one person's individual history. I collected a variety of books from different genres to demonstrate how each individual's story is unique.

My process for creating this work included slicing the books with a bandsaw, the cut symbolic of how culture and the institutions of the world act as a force upon each of us, impacting us in different ways, and causing society to be divided.

This class also drew on my skill set of public speaking and articulating my ideas, because we were required to present our work for critique each time we completed a piece.

During my critique for this assignment, people in my class were each very curious about each different aspects of the sculpture, demonstrating to me that their own stories and backgrounds impacted how they perceived it.

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