When I think of this project and the final outcome I am most proud of the plaster feet I made. I liked this portion of my project the most because it was the hardest thing to make. Through the process I had to do a lot of problem solving in order to make them look professional and refined. At the beginning I wasn't totally happy with them due to the fact that there wasn't a lot of detail, however when I began to sand and smooth out the imperfections I started to like them a lot more. At the beginning of this I was going to go with the plaster strips method, after one trial of this on a barefoot I quickly realized that this wouldn't work. After this I attempted to take loose plaster of paris powder and make just a footprint. Once I tried to do this I wasn't happy with the outcome and I didnt think that it connected to my vision of them as well. After this my third option was to go back to the plaster strips method. I covered my foot in plastic wrap and made several layers of this over the plastic wrap. I worked very slowly attempting to capture the detail that the plastic wrap restricted. After this I waited for them to slightly setup then I slowly took them off my feet. I then sanded then and applied loose plaster mixed with water in order to fill in the lissing gaps and to fill in the top of the feet.
If I had more time to build on my project I would make more collages. I wish that I had made three, one with survivors, killers, and the aftermath. I think that this would have given the project more depth instead of just combining all of these topics into one collage. I believe that doing this would make the project more framed. At the final exhibition I felt that my project needed more to it. I think that it needed more to look at and it would have been more visually appealing. I think that the lighting did a really good job of dramatizing the work I had however it still would have been better with more to look at.
Through the course of this project I had to overcome many obstacles. One of the ones that set my project plan pretty far off course was the issue with the plotter. I was planning to make my collage at the beginning of the work time. The materials I needed in order to make the plaster feet had also not arrived yet this meant I wasn't able to do almost any work on my project for the first week plus a few days. This set me off course and made me frustrated that I wasn't able to do my work. Along with this I felt that my stress was another set back to this, at times I felt so worried about the project that it actually set me back further. Another issue I ran into was making the box for the sand. Going into this I didn't know much about the tools needed to make the box. I had to ask peers for help in order to cut the boards to the right length. After this I wasn't able to find any screws, nails, or the heads to use the screws. I spent a lot of time attempting to construct the box when in the end I got help at help at home.
For this project I had two major takeaways: The survivor aspect of genocide and dont expect things to go as planned. While studying two very impactful genocides throughout this project I got really interested in the survivors after the genocide. As I was researching these horrific acts I noticed that people count the deaths and dont think to focus on the survivors. This is why I decided to make the feet as a representation to those that narrowly avoided the chemical bombings that killed so many of their people. I think that we need to focus on the survivor stories more along with the history of the genocide. I'm really glad I was able to so heavily learn about this topic for future knowledge. My other takeaway was to know that the project won't go as planned. At the beginning we made project schedules in order to stay on track, within the first day I had already moved off course from what I thought I was going to get accomplished. With this we had daily project journals where we would set goals for that day and reflect on what got done. Most days I even had trouble staying on track for that. Even though I wasn't able to follow the plans I made I was still able to do things when I thought I needed to do them.
Artist statement
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