[RESEARCHLED2] Covid times (existing work)

During this Covid outbreak, there are a lot of artists out there using this as a topic to discuss and take reference to their work. I have decided to look into work that are under the theme of quarantine and the pandemic. I would like to take this as an opportunity to look at the thinking process and design intention of different artists and designers out there. As having an in depth meaning and concept behind my work has been one of my weaknesses in my practice, this would be a good start for me to analyse people's thoughts and intentions, as well as to expose myself to variations of others work.  

I started by looking at Behance, putting in the keyword quarantine and Covid. 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/110691117/On-Vulnerability-a-Quarantine-Zine 

"On Vulnerability" by Elizabeth Nelson 

I find this project really interesting to me. Elizabeth is a graphic designer from Texas. She takes inspirations Swiss design style and 1980's-era scientific diagrams. This is a zine about vulnerability. As during the Covid times, people are forced to spend time with their own, Elizabeth is one of them, trying to dig into her own feelings and emotions. 

She started exploring her own vulnerability and thought that she couldn't do the concept of vulnerability justice if she confined it to the bounds of her own interpretations. There would also be a lack of content and resources for her to complete the zine. She decided to make a zine with one friend representing each letter of the alphabet, from A-Z. She reached out to different friends and asked them a question "what does vulnerability mean to you?". 

She used different digram and geometrical shapes to visualise the her friends' thoughts and feelings about their vulnerability. The visual outcome looks really infographic like. I really like the overall style of the publication, with only simple lines and framed diagrams. The typesetting is packed and boxed which gives a feeling of restrictions and bounded. 

Thoughts 

I really like the design style of Eliezbeth, as well as the whole concept fo visualising an abstract word, vulnerability. I have always been wanting to do something about emotions and feelings, but couldn't find a way to execute it. Have learnt a lot by looking at Elizebeth's work as it has given me some ideas on how to visualise an abstract feeling by using simple shapes and lines. 

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-book-re-considering-depictions-of-suicide-through-infographics/ 

"Nichtsein" by Katherine Schwarz

After the Covid outbreak, I have been wanting to know more about different mental health issues as it is a quote common topic among my friend circle. As it is something considered to me intimate and private, I think it is a quite sensitive topic to touch on when it comes to designing. It is really subjective at a psychological level and might differentiates among different people. This is a publication made by Katherine Schwarz on suicide. Katherine went for an infographic approach to state data and statistics of suicide cases in Germany. She used abstract visualisations to communicate the informative content which came out looking visually interesting and professional. She used paper stock as a separation of perusal and scientific content. Brown paper for informative content and blue paper for content of suicide letters and personal stories. 

Thoughts 

I love how the pages look clean and neat, feels like it is creating a ironic contrast between the heavy topic and overwhelmed feelings of people with suicidal thoughts. Instead of making the book overwhelming and uneasy to read, she made it minimal and neat, which create a smooth journey for readers to read and get to know about mental health issues. In the end, Katherine also mentioned about reducing the graphics on each pages under they almost disappear. "I made empty pages at the back with all graphics disappeared, like the people themselves." I like how Katherine created a more in depth and emotional reading journey among readers by reducing the graphics until they all disappear. This not only can leave the readers in a moment of silence when they have reached the end of the publication and make them reflect on and digest the information they have received from the book. I appreciate how Katherine was trying to build up feelings and emotions by the smart use of typesetting and simple graphics. This is something I want to learn from, using the simplest ways to communicate an abstract idea, leaving more space of interpretation for audience. 

This project is kind of similar to the previous one that Elizabeth did on venerability. Using simple graphics to communicate abstract ideas and intimate feelings. I would really like to try this approach out in my own way of presenting. 

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/juan-ortiz-arenas-n17-covid-19-photography-040920 

N17, Covid 19 by Juan Ortiz-Arenas 

Juan Ortiz-Arenas took this series of photographs documenting lockdown in his eyes. He used his one hour of outdoors to reflect his own state of mind during lockdown, as well as how l lockdown was affecting his local area. There is this one photograph that he particularly stressed on, Embrace.  

"It’s intimate and warm but has a formal quality to its composition, feeling posed, giving the image a certain grandeur. Despite this somewhat ceremonial structure, Juan adeptly captures their love and affection."

Thoughts  

I love how Juan described this photograph of being intimate and affectionate, at the same time grandeur and ceremonial. The people captured in the photograph communicated the idea of a more intimate and. personal mental state, while the composition of the photograph speaks the idea of the whole pandemic situation of being restricted. With on one single capture, a lot of meanings are being brought the audience. Juan has fully utilised the possibilities of the range of messages that an image can bring and translate. Apart from the expressions of model, composition and colour grading also serve a big part in translating a message and giving off feelings. 

https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/give-a-sheet-illustration-art-310320 

Give a Sheet by Guillaume Roukhomovsky and Blaz Verhnnjack

This is a really interesting one to me as I love how simple the motive and intention is and that it is accessible and doable to everyone. All profit gained from the project were donated to the WHO's Covid-19 fund. Not only taking the pandemic as an inspiration and reference to his idea, but also raising money to help out and elevate the situation. 

“toilet paper has become the new safe haven currency,” and so “there’s no reason artists shouldn’t make it their best new canvas,” 

Thoughts 

Toilet paper is something that everyone has in their home. It is something that we use everyday and Guillaume Roukhomovsky and Blaz Verhnnjack are taking the advantage of it being reachable and convenient. This is a really smart idea as it is a big collaborative project that everyone can participate in. As we use toilet paper everyday, we see no special in it. Adding creative value to something that we use everyday is a very interesting idea that I think I can try working on. Maybe changing the way how I look at things I use everyday? Or putting stuff together to create an art piece? 

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/florent-tanet-a-picnic-on-my-velux-photography-230620 

A Picnic on my Velux by Florent Tanet

This is the best one out of all that I've looked at today. Florent Tanet created a quarantine series from the roof of his window. 

•  Florent began his quarantine by searching for “another rhythm of life”. 
• “we had to adapt to the situation very quickly,” 
• “gave me a form of freedom in my work,”
• “rather inspiring for me”, and a rare opportunity “to focus on my personal work.”
• This began by looking around him, specifically looking up at the large velux window the photographer has on his roof. “What is interesting with velux is that it is turned only towards the sky, it does not give us direct access to the social world and does not show us external life,”
• “The window is an important reference in philosophy and art history and it took on its full meaning in this period of confinement.”

This actually amused me how random this project started just by looking around at things that we look at everyday without realising the potential and the beauty in it. I love the how Florent described her window as something only that turns only towards the sky, that gives us no access to the social world.  She added her own interpretation to the features of her window and this is something that interests me the most. She looked at things differently compared to how people look at things. As. the pandemic is forcing us to stay indoor in our homes, it is easy to feel stuck and trapped as we are looking at the same stuff everyday and will eventually start to feel numbed.