Author: ahbabj

I went to the Poster House museum on 23rd Street and was able to view a variety of poster art pieces throughout the museum. I visited the “We Tried To Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970-2020”, which was on the bottom floor of the museum. This exhibit gave an overview of different events throughout history that made an impact on our environment. Within the posters, were depictions of events that shaped our environment to this day and our way of living.

This exhibit shows that caring for the environment is essential to the well-being of the present and future generations, due to the mistakes made in the past. The posters illustrated how the environment provides us with important resources such as clean air, water, and fertile soil that sustain life but we humans are harming this environment. However, protecting these ecosystems ensures a balance in the natural processes that keep our planet healthy. A healthy environment will also contribute to people’s health and reduce the number of diseases related to pollution, leading to a more sustainable life on a “greener” Earth. Climate change is primarily caused by human activities and is a serious threat to global stability, affecting weather patterns, sea levels, and ecosystems. To mitigate these challenges, it is paramount to take concrete steps to address environmental issues such as reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable practices. After all, protecting the environment is an investment in the future for all of us, it encourages us to live in harmony with nature and guarantees a planet that is better able to meet the diverse needs of all life forms. All in all, this exhibit enables people to have a general understanding of what has happened to our environment, what we are doing to it, and how we can help preserve it for future generations.

One of the several posters that caught my attention and reinforced the idea that we must protect our environment was created by Robert Rauschenberg. This poster was created around the year of 1970. Rauschenberg created his poster to illustrate the importance of Earth Day, which came into existence starting April 22, 1970. He wanted people to see the bald eagle in the epicenter of the poster being surrounded by pollution. Rauschenberg believed in the idea of art being a stimulus that calls for social change. In this case, he wanted his poster to inspire the people of America to strive to create a more healthy and safer environment, to preserve it.

Another poster that I came across was one created by Hans Erni, in 1961. The name of this piece is “Save Our Water”. He created this poster which reflected “his social, political and environmental activism.” This piece was created to gain awareness and attention to the water safety of Switzerland, which was one of the first-ever countries that emphasized the significance of environmental issues on a national scale. This poster provides people with the need to care for the water and ensuring water safety is crucial for the well-being of both our environment and human populations. Water is a finite and essential resource to sustain life on Earth, playing a key role in ecosystems, agriculture, and human consumption. The responsible management of water resources is important to preserve biodiversity, support ecosystems, and protect natural areas. Moreover, saving water is important for human health. Contaminated water can spread disease and harm the well-being of communities. By adopting sustainable water practices such as reducing pollution, conserving water, and implementing appropriate conservation practices, we protect not only our ecosystem but also the health and well-being of current and future generations. Being able to recognize the connection between water and life, we must ensure the protection and security of our water for the future development of our planet. This goes to show why we must care for our environment, which can not only shape the way we currently live but can also alter the lives of the people of the next generations.

Lastly, the organization of this exhibit allowed viewers to get a chance to take in the art pieces as a whole, whether that be from afar or from close. Viewers would be able to take a “round-trip” around the exhibit, viewing posters more extravagant than the previous. This exhibit, being one that illustrates the need to protect our environment, was thoroughly organized so that the audience can smoothly transition from poster to poster to enhance their experiences and convince them to provide care for their environment because it’s now or never.

Throughout the play, Ching Chong Chinaman, Lauren Yee cements the idea of a Chinese American family that has completely assimilated into the American culture. The family consists of names that are unorthodox when it comes to Chinese names, proving that the family has established themselves as more American than Chinese. The family struggles to communicate with Jinqiang, the Chinaman, in the Chinese dialect since they have no idea how to properly speak Chinese, showing how they have completely detached themselves from their Chinese culture and identity.

It all starts at the beginning of the play when we are introduced to the family and its members as they are getting ready to take a picture for a Christmas card. The father Ed, the mother Grace, the son Upton, and the daughter Desdemona are irregular when it comes to Chinese names. Yee’s usage of these names provides a sense of the family’s establishment and assimilation into American culture, and how they are far from being a Chinese-American family and more so just an American family. This is only one of many issues that the family faces at the start of the play.

Yee then goes on to show the struggles of communication between the family and Jinqiang. Desdemona says, “This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to
even communicate with him?”, to which Ed replies, ” If he doesn’t know English and we don’t know Chinese, as long as he’s in America, that’s his fault, not ours.” The family struggles to adequately speak with the “Chinaman” and Ed continues to call him “Ching Chong” simply because he cannot pronounce the name properly. After some time, Grace uncomfortably orders Chinese food for the family and unknowingly thanks them in Japanese, with the misconception that “doomo arigato” means “thank you” in Chinese. Yee jokes about the sense of the family struggling to communicate in their native tongue, showing how much they have truly assimilated into the American culture, completely neglecting their Chinese culture.

Through the play, Yee ridicules the way people live their lives today with no perception of their own identity. The Wongs represent just that, a family that is so misguided by their misconceptions of their identities, as just Americans, that they make “uncalled for” remarks towards the Chinaman, Jinqiang. Yee uses the attendance of the “Chinaman” to not only joke with but dissolve stereotypes about Chinese Americans. Yee leads viewers to question their personal and cultural identity and the search for or dismissal of that identity. This play illustrates people who are restrained or mistaken in their pursuit of self-awareness and self-fulfillment, inevitably leading them to the realization that they need to be able to recognize and accept who and what they really are.

During the film, Flee, I noticed one scene that caught my attention from the very beginning. This was an amazing scene that hooked me, a viewer, into the film and worked perfectly. It all started with Amin Nawabi starting his flashback with his eyes closing. I believe stories are powerful and help convey their importance if told through memories or flashbacks.

The closing of the eyes indicated that things will be told in sequential order, from the very beginning of the story. This is a powerful technique in films and helps to capture the viewer’s attention and to keep their attention for the rest of the film.

The start of Nawabi’s story is very intriguing, as we get to find out soon that his family is alive and well, but he isn’t strong enough to reveal the information yet. During this moment in the film, we realize that Nawabi has been burdened by not only his sexual identity but also by hiding the secrets of his family and his origins as well. Being a Muslim and a gay man is very difficult and even harder to hold a secret for so long, yet Nawabi was able to hold it in for 20 years. I can attest to this because being a gay Muslim is very unorthodox and unheard of. Not only will it create an uproar within society but even more so within the family. All in all, Amin Nawabi was able to tell his life story and how he came to be who he is and why he is the way he is, helps me better understand the situations that he was put in, throughout his lifetime.

Another great aspect of the film was the idea of Amin Nawabi and his family constantly being on the move. The emphasis on being a refugee and not having a “home” creates sympathy/empathy for Nawabi. This was a great use of Pathos by the creator of the film. Using such scenes, like the one where Nawabi, his brother, and his mother are walking through a forest, to a boat that will take them to Sweden, helps bring out the emotions of the viewers and helps them retain their attention throughout the film. This scene was a pivotal moment in the film as we get to see how Nawabi and his family were involved in such terrifying circumstances and were able to escape alive, yet again, proving the vital usage of pathos within the film.

In the end, it was an amazing film that was organized, directed, and produced in a great manner. Being able to take a ride down memory lane with Amin Nawabi, helped me to take a hold of my relatable identity. This film created a stronger foundational base for me and how I see myself as being a gay man just like Amin Nawabi. It helped reinforce the fact that I cannot escape my past by hiding it but by being able to face it head-on.

Photography is the procedure of cataloging an image – a photograph – on light-sensitive film. It means drawing with light. It is derived from the Greek words “photos”, which means light, and “graphos”, which means drawing. However, photography has long since developed since the time it has been invented. Photography, as defined by Susan Sontag in her writing “On Photography“, is the idea of being able to capture the world through the lens of a camera or photographic device, as well as preserving the past and the present for the nearing future.

One such example that Sontag emphasizes the importance of photographs is by reflecting upon the uses of photographs in the past and how that has shaped the present within the field of criminology, being one of many examples. Sontag states, “Photographs furnish evidence…photographs became a useful tool of modern states in the surveillance and control of their increasingly mobile populations.” (Sontag 3). Through the use of photographs, police were able to lead investigations based on “solid” evidence. They presumed that “something exists, or did exist, which is like what’s in the picture.” This use of photography has long since evolved and has shaped the way of gathering evidence to this day and being able to influence investigations to bring criminals to justice. This use of photography helps to capture the world of criminology and has led to its advancement in several ways.

Another example Sontag mentions that highlights the significance of photographs is the idea of keeping memories or records of the past and the present. Sontag stated, “Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself—a portable kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness.” (Sontag 5). Photographs help keep long-lasting memories of families that can be cherished for generations. They bring life to the idea of a family and allow for a greater connection when the memories are developed through the use of photography. These photographs will bring to light the idea of both being able to preserve and share the memories with future generations. Photography is beyond the spectrum of art, it is the essence of capturing and preserving memories/history for the long term, being powerful enough to distort or shape anything. Photographs help to achieve an archive of memories from the past, leading to the present and the eventual future.

Photography has had many uses throughout history, but in my opinion, it has made some of its greatest impacts in capturing moments to help lead to bringing criminals to justice as well as safeguarding memories. As Aaron Siskind states, “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

Cultural heritage is the idea/essence of a person’s core values and traditions that have been passed on for generations. It is the idea of being able to express one’s self to the world. “Cultural heritage implies a shared bond, our belonging to a community. It represents our history and our identity; our bond to the past, to our present, and the future.” Cultural heritage is not only about our present but also the past and the upbringing of the future. It defines and reshapes the ideas that people have of themselves, others, and the community. An example of cultural heritage within my family and within many Muslim families would be the five prayers of the day and the two Eids that are celebrated every year. This is a heritage that runs in every Muslim family/community. The five prayers are a tradition that helps us seek peace with ourselves and our god, Allah. The celebration of Eid allows us to become closer to friends, family, and many others who are a part of our community. This represents both culture and heritage alike, as it has been occurring in the past, in our present, and will continue to occur in the future. The article also included the idea of tangible and intangible objects, “cultural heritage is not only limited to material objects that we can see and touch. It also consists of immaterial elements…”. I completely agree with this statement because cultural heritage doesn’t always have to be physical things that are touched. Ideas, traditions, rituals and much more can be considered as cultural heritage since they are also passed down from generation to generation, helping to shape or reshape the lives of many people. An example of a tangible object, that was also mentioned in the article, would be the Mona Lisa. This was a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that was made in Florence but was being displayed in France. Even though it has culture from Florence, it also has a role to play in the culture of France as well. This famous painting holds meaning to many people across the world as a part of their culture, specifically their art cultural heritage. An example of intangible culture would be music. People have passed on the ideas of music from centuries ago. Music these days is inspired by artists from centuries ago, which many people listen to and dance to, almost every day of their lives. The main takeaway from this is that intangible things can have just as much impact on cultural heritage as tangible things can. In the end, cultural heritage is a significant part of a person’s identity. It can help create a person’s identity or make them rethink their identity. It is not only a part of themselves but also a part of something bigger and greater.