Exploration → Progress

          The title of my collage is “Exploration → Progress.” It is based on the idea that exploration fosters progress in our society. This idea is the general truth that I came to when I was thinking about the theme of cultural encounters. Cultural encounters are a form of exploration because through these experiences you are able to learn about the various groups of people in the world. With this new understanding comes progress because by using the knowledge that you obtained during your cultural encounter, you can create something magnificent – a relationship, an idea, or something material.

            The beginning of my collage lies in the small sticker of a little adventurer in the bottom of the piece. He represents exploration. The rest of the piece shows the concept of progress. This variance in size was intentional – I wanted to show how much could result from the little effort that it takes to go out into the world and explore. However, I chose a black background to show that although we know so much by now, there is still a lot more that is unknown by us. The black background is first broken up by a diagonal line of three windows. They are meant to alert the viewer that sight is extremely important in this piece. Furthermore, the windows parallel the rectangular windows that exist in the rest of the piece.

            Each picture in the collage represents a window into either the past or the present. The window to the present is juxtaposed on top of the window to the past to show the progress that humanity has made. For example, to show progress in art, the window portraying modern art overlaps the window showing classical Renaissance art. The other fields portrayed in this collage are architecture, science, and nature. These forms are some of the basic elements that make up a group’s culture. In addition, I tried to keep the colors of these windows dark in order to emphasize how much we still do not know.

            However, to commemorate all that we have achieved, I included several small things written in a bright silver color, such as physics and mathematics formulas, a drawing of the concept of perspective, a chemical molecule, a new fact about nature, and a 3-D shape. These bright fragments of information are supposed to show the small specks of knowledge that we have discovered – or the small specks of light that have penetrated the darkness of the unknown. Finally, there is a statement that looks to future, written on the bottom next to the exploration figure, which states, “6 billion to lead us.” It is written in the same silver color as the fragments of light, but must be looked at from a certain angle in order to be seen. This once again reminds the viewer about the importance of sight.