Staci Jordan
Arts Scholar
TRYathlon
Semester 3
As an experiential component of College Park Arts Scholars, I attended a selection of three art events during my third semester. These events ranged in art mediums and each sparked dialogue among my peers.
TRYathlon #1: Kacey Wong’s Art of Protest TED Talk
September 18, 2023 | TED Talk | Art of Protest - Resistance & Humour in the Age of Political Absurdity
#presentation
For my first TRYathlon event this semester, I chose to watch a TED talk presentation. In the presentation, Kacey Wong first discusses the separation between politics and the arts and how it is his duty as a citizen to worry about politics. At the same time, it is his duty as an artist to create art. Wong goes on to explain how he is both a citizen and an artist, so he can fulfill those roles together by using his art as a tool for protest. Throughout the talk, Wong stresses the importance of using whatever you can offer to facilitate change, and for him that was art. I feel that Kacey Wong’s speech will help me in developing my ideas for my capstone project. I can draw from some of Wong's tactics when protesting in the Umbrella Movement. One tactic that worked well for Wong was to make sure that his message was easy to understand through his art. It was not too complex. Another helpful tip I got from the TED talk was to think about how my role as an artist can be tied to other roles or identities in my life. I think that this second tip will be especially useful in determining how I will execute my capstone project.
TRYathlon #2: Viewing of the movie, Can You See Us?
October 16, 2023 | Netflix | Can You See Us?
#film
For my second event this semester, I chose to watch the Netflix movie, Can You See Us? I chose this film because it is related to my topic idea for my capstone project. I thought I could use it for research. This movie was inspiring in the end, although there were several sad moments. The movie is about a young boy in Africa named Joseph who gets rejected by his biological father and many of the people in his life because he has albinism. This treatment causes him to struggle with feeling good about himself. However, there are a handful of people in his life who love him and treat him with respect. One character, in particular, taught Joseph how to play guitar which Joseph then used to cope with the difficult moments in his life. Later, Joseph’s music causes people to love and appreciate him.
For my capstone project, one of the issues I want to address is colorism within the Black community. The film gave me new ideas on what I should consider researching for my project. It helped me to think about my topic from a new perspective. Before, I was mostly thinking about how colorism may negatively impact people of darker complexions, but I could also look at the opposite side of the spectrum now and research how colorism may be affecting Black albinos. The film also made me think about how appearances could not only be linked to a feeling of beauty or worthiness but also to the opportunities people may be offered or neglected. If I want to address the latter connection, I would have to expand my audience for the project.
TRYathlon #3: Light Painting
November 16, 2023 | Craft & Chat | Painting with Lights
#visualart #ArtsScholars
For my last pentathlon event this semester, I attended a light painting Craft & Chat held by one of the Arts Scholars TAs. I had seen a few images of light paintings on Instagram before attending the event, but I did not know that light could be considered another medium of art to make paintings. I was essentially unaware of this whole other genre of art. I was glad to be given the opportunity to try it out. Before we began making our own paintings, the TA gave us some background information on what light painting is, how it works, and some techniques people have used. To make light paintings you have to use special camera settings to take photos with long exposure in order to capture the movement of the light. After trying some of the techniques the TA showed us, we began to experiment and see if we could come up with different techniques that may alter the way the final painting looked.
I found this experimental part of the event to be my favorite part. I connected this part of the event to our class discussions about brainstorming and doing research to develop ideas for our final capstone projects. This experimental process helped us to get closer to our desired final image. We also found that even when we tried something that may not have gone the way we expected it to, we were still able to create something beautiful. Those small “failures” led us to discover new, useful techniques, similar to how the brainstorming and mind-mapping exercises we did earlier in the semester helped us to develop our capstone project ideas. In a way, making art can be a tool for the brainstorming process.
