Animation

Collaging a rotoscoped animation. 70 individual collaged frames.

Silence is Golden

This is a final project assignment made for a class about Mass Media entertainment in the U.S. I chose to study National Geographic in a final paper with this supplementary animation. The young boy in the ad is representative of America in 1888. Newly "reformed" after the Civil war, and at the closing of the "frontier."

Wealthy American men are funding research crews - such as the USS Albatross in 1882 - pushing US government to start getting involved with exploration to compete with Britain and France. They take on the persona of Uncle Sam.

Nat geo was a means of legitimizing the US as a global power, exploitative in its means of "diffusing knowledge" as a part of the mission statement, silencing outside cultures, ways of thinking, and profiting off of "cultural capital." This history isn't addressed very often, as Nat Geo is viewed a reputable source of historical and scientific information. It is important to think about in terms of how America developed its identity, culture, and knowledge building in the 20th century.

Things have improved in photojournalism and scientific exploration; National Geographic specifically has addressed it's history of racism an article in 2018, but I think it's influence in the form of foreign relations, American identity etc, are so prominent and often not discussed.

Initial ideation right ----->

Walt Disney was very much influenced by National Geographic - referencing the photos and writing from journalists to ideate characters and build worlds. These political and cultural ideologies are foundational to Disney Entertainment.

Major Themes of this work:
Cultural Imperialism/American Identity/White Supremacy/White Saviors/US as a dominate power/Glorification of war/ Glorification of exploitative "exploration" for resources/Consumerism/Aura

Tiger Balm

A paper collage stop-motion project about how when a consumer buys a product, they are buying the "full package" which not only includes the ingredients, but also the histories around it's making, the impacts it's ingredients have on the environment.

This also questions around how the products brand identity can represent the very thing that the product impacts the most. In the case of Tiger balm, this is an investigation of camphor, a main ingredient in this product - something that can take away pain- with a history of destruction and contribution to deforestation and the falling population of sumatran tigers; causing pain.

Spring 2019 - Music: Zach Hemsey The Way

woven wear. Where?

In an engagement project, participants were given small bracelets to symbolize the region of the world the article of clothing they chose to explore. Where it was produced, and what it is made of. This is a really basic start to a complicated issue of transparency we want to address. Where do the raw materials come from to make the product? What other components had to be shipped to compile the one piece of clothing? This is a visual representation of what we do know from tags, but also shows how much we still don't know.

Featuring Michigan students from all around central campus. Big thanks to everyone who was willing to participate with two strangers running up to them asking to see their clothing tag. Fun project that required some bravery. Jackie Spryshak and Karson Schenk, Fall 2019.

More work from Intro to Animation