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- Bored
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- Alone
The themes I wish to explore in this exhibition are abandonment and loneliness. As I read Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, one thing that I thought was an issue for Gregor was being alone all of the time. Shunned by his family, Gregor wasted most of his days behind a locked door with no one to socialize with; Gregor could only keep to his thoughts and make his own inner dialogue. The lack of communication he had with his family contributed to his eventual loss of self and humanity. Gregor no longer knew how to act and became the vermin he had transformed into. I feel that loneliness and abandonment were two of the greatest tragedies Gregor faced upon his transformation.
As you look at this gallery, look left to right from the top to the bottom. The sequence of these pictures tells the story of a lonely person. No one is at home, so he/she ventures out to the hallway. No one is in the hallway, so he/she goes outside. We see an abandoned building that has been neglected for years. No one appears to be around so the person goes on a train that happens to be empty too. Looking out into the night does not fulfill his/her quest as everything is veiled by darkness. The person is in a lonely world where he/she may be the only one existing. In the last picture, we see the person and his/her shadow. The person realizes that he/she is alone and is able to speak only to herself. The theme of this gallery is absurd as we are truly only aware of our own existence. The person in this gallery lives in solitude just like Gregor.
Photos in this exhibit were made by the following people:
Kirsten E. Paulsen for IMG_3394
Michael Mamiye for Alone & Bored
Hanna Utkin for Stuffiness
Samantha Chui for 20130919_171477
Joeleen Moy for IMG_4467
Wow this was really cool. It shows the progression of a single person in complete loneliness and that is a very intriguing idea. I really like when you said “The lack of communication he had with his family contributed to his eventual loss of self and humanity.” Him turning into a cockroach didn’t make him lose his humanity, him not being able to communicate caused his humanity to be lost. He falls deeper and deeper into despair and loneliness and your exhibit really shows this experience quite well. Good job I really enjoyed looking at the pictures, guessing what it meant, reading your explanation and I said to myself “ohhhh really smart!”
I really liked how your photos told a story and how that story went from a small scope to a bigger one with each following picture. It shows how Gregor would have seen the world after being isolated, and I can understand how that emptiness would contribute to a sense of abandonment. I do agree that his family abandoned him, and in his own monologue, he forgot how to be a human. I never actually thought of it that way until you pointed it out, because I had just assumed that he became the vermin that he transformed into simply because he was adjusting to his new body.