f i n a l p r o j e c t

      P  U  R  P  O  S  E 

      [ c o n t i n u e d ]

           I explored the concept of purpose through themes of love, relationships, and commitment and how they contrast with dispensable love. In my project, I wanted to portray what it would look like for a heart to fulfill its purpose. I believe a heart fulfills its purpose when it loves another sacrificially for a lifetime. We can see this through the concept of marriage and its necessary commitment. Love, in a sacrificial way, lights up our lives in so many ways. We are able to experience joy, laughter, trust, and satisfaction. To communicate the meaning of love and its purpose, my visual strategy was lighting. I wanted to illuminate the image of my parents from their hearts because they are, in my opinion, fulfilling their hearts' purpose to love. The glowing of their faces and bodies in the midst of a shadowy-like background illustrates that fulfilling this purpose lights up their life.The smiles on their faces show us joy, and the holding of each others hands shows us commitment. 

            On the flip side, I wanted to illustrate what it looks like to go the opposite path of what a heart's created purpose is. I explored what it may look like if love from our heart was suddenly disposable. When we view love as something very temporary and insignificant, we tend to "throw it away" easily. Originally, I went through a process in trying to demonstrate a "typical" dispensable item, such as a drink in a vending machine. My friend and I taped hearts to the drinks in a vending machine to symbolize that there are plenty hearts, and that you are free for the picking-yet also free for the throwing away after your are finished. I wanted to place this image into the other side of my diptych, however, decided against it because I found it extremely cheesy! Instead, my visual strategy was to use color (and lack of) to show the differences between a dark world with dispensable love versus a colorful and glowing image. The black and white background contrasts with the color in the opposing image to show that his life is not lit up by a committed love, but instead greyed because of temporary, disposable love. Several frames were used to display instability, whereas the other image shows just one focus to display stability. 


            As I was researching artists for my project, I came across Martin Grohs' mixed media projects and found that a lot of his work involved lighting. Most of his work includes a central focus of a person that seemingly normal/average, but his effects on the clothing that they wear or accessories on their face make them seem out of this world. His work influenced me because of the lighting he used and how it makes eyes wander across the work. Even if the image may be centrally focused on one person, I like that I want to look at the several different effects due to liquifying techniques or lighting and shadowing. I mimicked his ideas through the use of glowing, and creating several frames within one document to keep the eye wandering. Joonas Paloheimo was an inspiration in my work because of the contrasting between light and dark. In both images in my final project, I showed contrast between light and dark to show what the purpose of love does for us in our lives. Paloheimo also used very "clean", sharp, and focused imagery which I admired because simplicity is preferable to me. I incorporated this idea into the picture of my parents, which is just one focused shot on them to illustrate the stability in their relationship. I also incorporated this focus into the multiple images on the left side of my diptych in which each image centered on one thing.