“Community” has been my buzz word this year. Through experiencing, bonding, and being accepted in new communities, to hearing discussions and artist talks about types of community, I want to start off my process of creating my project by trying to define why community has become important for my work as an individual.
Working in the studio is a lonely process if you do not have other people to bounce off your ideas. By having a support group, whether it be family, faculty, or a passerby, having that conversation with people allows for more questions to be formed. Those questions then help me to make a goal to dive into and find an answer (or even more questions). The individual can create easily without any output, especially when they have a clear path in mind, but what happens along the way if someone leads you to a better path of creativity through just one conversation? This can apply to personal lifestyle as well for anyone. Communities can have a significant impact on an individual as there’s a safe space formed that exhibits encouragement to one another, which then allows the individual to feel inspired or determined to complete their own goals.
How can I show the layers of experiences that happen in a specific community I am a part of? How does the visual language bind the audience once they view the work? What do I even want community to be? These are questions I am currently reflecting on.
There is a shift in my process that is happening from memorializing the ritual/community/culture heritage, to procuring a ritual/community/cultural heritage purposely. I have no answer for what even makes or brings in a community, yet in this next chapter of making artwork for this project, I will explore that question by creating events that causes collaboration and communion amongst people as a catalyst for the project.
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