Monday, April 14, 2008

Project Three: Home

The fundamental difference between a house and a home is the source of comfort a house provides. While brainstorming for project three, I asked many of my friends and family about one object/thing/idea they could not leave the house without. Many said their phones, wallets, ipods. I then specified my question to: if you were moving away from the house you grew up in, what would you take to remind you of home? Many responded in a manner that shows that this is something they have thought about before because many are in their first year of school and had to go through the process of moving not too long ago. One of my friends said they could not leave their house without an escape plan, another said her favorite Cat Stevens album and my sister said her family. Another asked if it was possible to bring a smell. For me, I could never move away without Moby Dick. Many of the responses I received translated into a person's prized possesion, their source of comfort and their source of security. It makes me wonder how objects can have so much power over an individual, the epitome of this being a house. Without a house, you don't have much. America places so much emphasis on "stuff" and housing your "stuff." Without emotional attachments, one's possessions would basically mean nothing. In my series, I would like to attempt to capture the intimacy of a person and their "object." Because a Cat Stevens album may not mean much to anyone else, but to someone, it can mean home.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

My Life and Political Events

I believe that political events: Have influenced my life to some degree.

Year: 1973
Age: not born
Event: Yom Kippur War
Effect: My dad basically dodged joining the Israeli army and came back to America for college. I added this because the major political influence in my life is my father. He has described this time in his life to me in much detail. If he did not choose to move back to America my entire life… well, may not have been a life.

Year: 1998
Age: 9
Event: Clinton sex scandal- The president “kissed” a woman that was not his wife. He denied it even though everyone knew it was true. President Clinton was a good politician but “couldn’t keep his pick in his pants”
Effect: I became aware of the media and its relationship to politics. I learned that if you have something politically related to say adults will actually listen to you.

Year: 2000
Age: 11
Event: Bush beat Gore- I was in school and we were having mock elections. We spent a couple weeks split into two sides debating and researching our chosen candidates. The class became very competitive and I personally was very upset at one specific girl (Kristen) who was a Bush supporter. I am not sure why, but I have a clear memory of getting into a heated argument about our candidates and feeling that neither of us had any clue why we chose our guy. The teacher had to intervene because we were both becoming angry.
Effect: Eventually Gore lost, in the real election that is, and I felt embarrassed. I learned from this experience that politics felt a lot like sporting events. Everyone chooses a team; if you win you are cocky and if you loose you are ashamed and frustrated.


Year: 2001
Age: 12
Event: Sept. 11- I was in class with my favorite teacher. He calmed everyone down and broke the news. We went outside and listened to the reports on his car radio. My class spread rumors around the entire school, even to teachers, that the twin towers were hit by mistake but they crumbled to the ground. A few kids were hysterical because their parents worked in the buildings. I was upset because other students were crying but could not visualize what really happened. I got home and watched the video on the news and broke down. My two younger siblings and I had a sleepover in my parent’s room for the next couple days because we were afraid.
Effect: I learned that America is hated.

Project 3- Home

For project three I will explore home as a casing. I have decided to photograph a group of things that people live inside... bed, clothing, car, house and skin. I want to include two groups in my series. One will contain things that are new and fresh looking. The opposing group will be of things that are old and decrepit.
My goal is to create an assumption in the viewer when they look at the images as a whole. Each image, of something that acts as a shell, will not show what is inside. I am trying to create a commentary on modern values in America.
Most of our country has the financial ability to make choices about what color mulch to use in their front lawn, what molding to use around their windows and which shoes wear with their dark jeans (the list goes on). In many other places life is lived to survive and not to create any specific lifestyle or image.
The content of each casing becomes secondary to the exterior. I wonder if this mentality carries over into other aspects of our life, such as, presidential candidates. Is the image of a politician more valued then there policies and principles?
Home is the ultimate casing, the ultimate exterior. So much goes on inside a house that is never seen, but, your neighbors always think they know you

Political Awareness/Home: Behind Closed Doors-Jacqueline

In 1988, I was 8 years old.
I remember the presidential election, but not much about it. We talked about it in school. I remember that Bush was elected, and I did not like him very much. I don't remember where those feelilngs came from , but I remember not liking him. My immediate family isn’t very political, so I don't think it really effected me, personally.

In 1991, I was 11. Operation desert storm began. I remember the news coverage and the yellow ribbons, learning about POW/MIA and how important it is to support our troops.
It affected my cousins and my uncle/aunt. He is a lieutenant colonel for the army and he was over there at the time. My mom was worried about him, but I guess I was too young to get involved.

In 1996, I was 16. Clinton was elected as president and most people around me were pretty satisfied with him. It had no real effect.

In January, 1998, I was 17 years old. I remember the exacerbation of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It was covered almost 24/7 on the news and in the newspapers. It made me realize how incredibly drama-hungry our country is, and how manipulative our media is. It also made me wonder why it was more important than real political issues that deserve more attention. It did not make me hate him as a president.
On 9/11/2001, I was almost 21 years old. I remember my neighbor waking me up to tell me that I should go and pick my little brother up from school because we were being bombed. I turned on the television to see what was really happening and I was in shock. I went to get my little brother, because it wasn’t clear exactly what was going to happen next. All of the parents were there, getting their children. Everyone was panicked. It was very surreal.
I think that this event heightened everyone’s political awareness. It was a wake-up call for everyone. Our country is not invincible. I was more aware every time that I traveled, almost fearful. It changed a lot for me. I made sure to vote in every election following 9/11. The impact on our country because of this so-called, “War on Terror” is tremendous. Our economy is crashing, my husband is having a hard time finding a job in his field, and I am afraid that I will have the same problems.

My Life and Political Events
I believe that political events: have influenced my life to some degree

Home to me, is the people in your life. Even if there were no structure to dwell in, home would still be the people whose live's you inhabit and vice versa.
For this project, I have several ideas. One is an obvious relationship to home: the people who inhabit my life.
My other idea is this: I went to Greenwich Village in NY, recently. There were so many sex shops...5 in less than a 1/2 of a block. This made me wonder what it would be like to explore home as a private space, and to expose some of the things that go on behind closed doors. I am not sure that I would be able to find that many people willing to let me photograph them, but I know enough to let me photograph their things. This is definitely something that I would like to experiment with.
I have had several other fleeting ideas that have not really been as feesible as I would have liked, so I am moving on from them.
I know through experience with our last project that things don't always take shape like you want them to. I know that I may have to experiment with several different things before I get it right. So, I guess I will see exactly where it takes me soon.

Home.

Overall, I feel that political events have had only a small impact on my life. While I have, from quite a young age, been aware of the political universe, and even taken an interest in it, I have never felt any direct effects of it in my own life. In 2001, I noticed no discernible change resultant of the switch from Clinton's democratic presidency to Bush's republican one. I took quite an interest in Clinton's sex scandal, but again, its outcome was of no personal significance to me. Even the war in Iraq, which I oppose for various reasons, has not had any actual effect on me or my lifestyle. If I did not watch television or read the newspaper, it is likely that I would not even realize that the country was at war. This is not to say that I don't care about politics, but that my lifestyle is such that I am not immediately affected by it. I do not own a home, I only work part time, and I do not have to worry about taxes or social security. Of course, this will all change within the coming years, but up to this point in my life, politics has played an astonishingly small role in my life.

Two political issues, both related directly to the concept of "home," in which I have recently taken interest, are the Tibetan Sovereignty debate and the issue of morality in The Church of Scientology, specifically its "disconnection" policy. Unfortunately, I do not anticipate traveling to Tibet any time soon, so this issue is not a likely candidate for my project. The issue of Scientology is, however, much closer to home. The church, which is known for charging its members large sums of money in order to allow them to advance within the religion, has a particular policy called "disconnection," which requires members to sever all contact with non-members of the church, including immediate family members, in order to move beyond a certain rank. On Saturday, I attended a protest organized by the internet organization known as "Anonymous," that specifically targeted this disconnection policy. I took still photos, as well as video, and I plan to supplement this with further documentation supporting both sides of the argument. The end result will be a video incorporating both live action and still images.

If for any reason the above project does not work out, I have already begun work on a book, to be printed by Blurb, dealing with the experience of growing up in New Jersey, a state that is often misrepresented and misunderstood. I had considered this more of a long term project, but it does fall comfortably within the concept of "Home," so it is a possible candidate for project 3.