Author: janavedano05 (Page 1 of 2)

For too many people, carbon emissions destroying our atmosphere and billions of tons of pollution depriving our oceans of life is a reality that seems impossible to change. Years of corporations telling us to pay attention to our carbon footprint have distracted us from the trail of trampled life they have left behind. As I entered the Poster House museum to see their exhibit, We Tried to Warn You!, I realized I was about to see a front of the battle against humanity’s destructive behavior in a way I had never seen before. Entering the exhibit, a path is made clear, as the first piece I see sets both the mood, and the start of the timeline, for the rest of the exhibit: an unsettling, dark image with a polluted, black landscape, and a side profile of a gray man with no expression, accentuated by his circular beady eyes; besides his head are birds with those same circular and expressionless eyes, circling around the sides of his head, seemingly diving alongside him. This piece, Ecological Seminar, made by Stasys Eidrigevicius in 1989, was a poster created to advertise an ecological seminar taking place in Darlowo, Poland. Several pieces as early as 1961 appear in a similar gloomy style, and as we move through the exhibit, we appear to move through time and place. We are shown posters from all around the world within a single room, and at the center of that room, there is a wall that holds many posters and also helps to guide the viewer around the room. The exhibit’s walls are painted according to the themes of the pieces, making the posters feel like they were made to be in that room, all in the same place. The posters shown all criticized different aspects of the damage we have caused to the environment, whether it be promoting a gathering of some kind, or an image in protest of local issues to the artists in question. The fact that these discussions were had surprised me because I hadn’t known that there was a widespread trend developing around environmental issues. In fact, I assumed that the discussion on these topics was quite low. Nearing the end of the exhibit, the surface mood changes, as the images get more bright and colorful, such as a We’re In This Together ./ExxonMobil, a poster by Winston Tseng created in 2022, depicting former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson facing a child with a thumbs-up, with a background of a dead tree and the world clearly burning. Despite the color change, the messages remain gloomy, pointing out the irony in corporations and their failure to uphold Corporate Social Responsibility. The exhibit made me feel a sense of vindication, and yet, hopelessness. The consequences were not unforeseen, but nothing was done to stop it.

Out of all the pieces that I viewed, one artist caught my attention. For decades, Hans Erni, a Swiss artist and graphic designer, expressed his environmental activism in several different mediums, including posters, where he commented on environmental issues affecting Switzerland. The two pieces presented in the exhibit, Save Our Water and Save Our Air, were made nearly 20 years apart, and yet they were both striking and somewhat disturbing. The moment I saw them, they had me slow to a full stop so that I could appreciate the intricate and artistic realism in these pieces. Save Our Water, created in 1961, was made in response to the pollution and chemical spills that kept infesting the waters, and it does so in an interesting manner. Typically, I always saw this kind of pollution depicted as deadly to the environment. However, Save Our Water made me rethink the water in my own water bottle as it showed the effect it could have on us. It depicts a hand holding a glass of water, appearing similarly to a zoomed-out view of the ocean depths, but in that glass is a skull without teeth, giving it a sharp, terrifying appearance. The shading of the piece only heightens the deathly tone, making me feel like we are responsible for our own undoing. This only adds to the irony in our situation pointed out by the exhibit, as we drink the water that we pollute every single day. Save Our Air, on the other hand, attempts to warn us about something we do every single day: breathing, and the fact that the air we breathe isn’t always safe. This piece once again takes a skull, similarly drawn to the one in his previous piece, however, it is displayed over a dark background with a brown gradient towards the bottom, reminding me of a day in New York City where the air itself turned a brownish color due to wildfires in Canada. It was like the COVID-19 pandemic all over again, as people brandished masks once again, and looking at the skyline from my neighborhood of Sunset Park revealed a city covered in dust. Taking a deep breath in it would surely mess with one’s lungs, and this piece then depicts this anatomy alongside a tangled mess of fleshy tubes wrapping around shrunken lungs and connecting through the opening under the jaw bone. It’s a dark reminder that we aren’t invincible to the effects of air pollution, that underneath the surface we are fleshy machines that can decay and falter like any other machine, and if not taken care of, can fall apart quickly. But it all starts with taking care of the world around us. Much like every other piece in this exhibit, these pieces demonstrate the effects of harming our environment, but specifically point out how it affects us in a grim manner.

This exhibit was genuinely an impactful, and motivating exhibit to me. I have been concerned with our planet for a long time, but felt there was never much I could do, except join the crowd and their uproar. These pieces feel the same, they contribute to growing concern, but their cries are never fully heard. While it successfully addressed the issues at hand, it wasn’t enough. This exhibit speaks to those who have fought for the justice our planet deserves but have not been heard by those who have the power to make change. In fact, it’s been known by companies like ExxonMobil that what they were doing was dangerous, and yet they did nothing. It is exactly the reason why people should come to see this exhibit because it highlights how powerful we are to know what’s going on, but powerless to stop it as individuals. Otherwise, the artists who created these posters, seen by thousands, possibly even millions, would be known for helping to create the world depicted in pieces like The Green New Deal, a reality we have yet to see.

Kindness Can Be Found in the Most Unlikely Places

When I think of exploring the identity of oneself, I usually don’t think about using derogatory terms to explore identity in a comedic way. However, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman does exactly this, where a Chinese American family grapples with their individual identities, specifically their cultural identity. Known as the Wong family, a couple with two children embodies a near typical American family, like how the father, Ed, is obsessed with playing golf, while the daughter, Desdemona, dreams of getting into Princton University, doing nearly anything to get in. Each family member has their cultural identity explored in some way, the catalyst for this exploration being Jinqiang, a Chinese man that Upton, the son in the family, brought to America in order to do his chores and homework while he plays videogames. It is worth noting that the derogatory terms start with Jinqiang, since the family confuse him for Upton, and pay no effort to say his name correctly, calling him “Ching Chong” out of their American ignorance. The most interesting family member that was explored to me was Upton, who has dreams of becoming a champion in the world of gaming. While he seems just like the rest of his family members, driven deep into their own endeavors, it’s later revealed there is much more he cares about then his drive to become the champion of a World of Warcraft international arena tournament. His character is one that subverted my expectations, since I originally thought would be a far more selfish character. However, he ends up being a character with some of the most impactful moments throughout the few moments that he had.

Interestingly, Upton’s full name is Upton Sinclair Lewis Wong, clearly named after an American writer of the same name. Throughout Ching Chong Chinaman, he introduces essays that he has written regarding his plan to become the World of Warcraft champion. One essay in particular delves into his inspiration for the idea of bringing Jinqiang to America, where he points out Charles Crocker and how he hired foreign Chinese workers to work on building the transcontinental railroad, “They complete my homework, my chores, and my familial obligations. Like Crocker, I am able to achieve my goals painlessly, and they recieve opportunites far beyond what they could get in their home countries” (Yee 24). This whole introduction to Upton made him out to be selfish and self-centered, only caring about his own endeavors and what he wants. In addition to this, the selfishness of other characters like his sister Desdemona only amplifies the idea that this family genuinely does not care much for others, exemplified by the actions of the family as a whole towards Jinqiang, since they simply accept Upton’s excuses for bringing Jinqiang and also ignoring their racism towards him. The development of Upton only seems to lead further down this road, since later on he ends up fantasizing about an asian schoolgirl obsessing over him and his interest in gaming. He ignores his family completely in these moments, although when his family does say things like “You know we’re kicking you out of the house once you hit eighteen,” and “I just don’t think Koreans would find you attractive and an American unless you were white,” it’s understable why he may be ignoring them (Yee 46). It begins to paint a clear picture of what is actually going on with Upton, since his family only seem to encourage his behaviour by attempting to stifle his ambitions to compete. However, who Upton truly is begins to be revealed later on in the story when the family decide to go on a trip to Mexico, while he goes to the tournament in South Korea to compete.

Once Upton gets to Korea, I expected his mind to be completely taken by the drive to win at the tournament. Instead, I found that Upton was one of the only people trying to talk to his family members, who now shut him out. He frequently calls his family members, wanting to tell Desdemona about how she made it into Princeton, only to get disconnected by Desdemona as she celebrates without even hearing everything Upton has to say (Yee 67). Later on, Upton also tries to talk to his mom about the championship, but she doesn’t answer. She barely even listens to the voicemails he left before skipping through them (Yee 71-72). He really does seem to care for his family at the end of the day, and Ed makes clear why Upton has beent he way he has, “He knows what he wants in life and he doesn’t need me there to hold his hand. (Lights up on Upton, eating a Korean snack. Or several snacks. He waits for his cell phone to ring)” (Yee 74). Throughout the story, Upton was really misunderstood rather than a selfish, self-centered person. Even at the beginning of the story, he tries to correct his father on the pronounciation of Jinqiang name, and when that failed, he still wanted to respect him as simply “J”. While essentially putting Jinqiang into “indentured servitude”, he also actually does find his opportunity, as he is actually a dancer who finds his shot at tap dancing in America. While Upton may have ignored his family as they criticized him for playing World of Warcraft all day, he may have actually just wanted attention for his passions and interests, which is why he fantasizes about the asian schoolgirl. Once all his hard work finally ends up paying off at the tournament, he returns to his family in a sense, desperately wanting to hear from them, only to recieve barely any response. He even wants to congratulate his sister on making it to Princeton, merely mentioning his impressive tournament victory as a simple win before moving on to praise her and her hard work. In short, with each and every moment in the story, Upton’s character begins to shine because he begins to outdo the viewers expectations of him, and this makes the viewers think further about Upton’s actual motivations and what he really seems to care about.

Works Cited

Yee, Lauren. Ching Chong Chinaman. Samuel French, 2011.

Back to Where We Started

When I think of a refugee, I often think of someone escaping from a dangerous situation to a safer place where they could live their lives safely, and find opportunities that they couldn’t find before. However, the film Flee, directed by Poher R. Jonas, turned my perspective completely on its head. Throughout the film, we follow a man named Amin Nawabi, whose story humanizes the plight of refugees like no other. He escaped Afghanistan with his family as a child just as the Afghan War broke out. Like many Afghan refugees at the time, they escaped to the Soviet Union, where he and his brother were safe from being drafted into a war that tore down their hometown, but his family was not safe from the despair and corruption of the USSR. There, they lived in fear every day of being caught and sent back by the police. The corruption of the police leads to them harassing refugees, and stealing their money in exchange for letting them stay with illegal papers. This began their journey of saving up every penny to be taken to a safer place via human traffickers, a dangerous option, and yet, their only one. Nawabi eventually makes it to Denmark, where he grapples with keeping his story and sexual orientation a secret. The most impactful moment to me, however, was during his family’s first attempt at escaping Soviet Russia together.

While in the USSR, Nawabi’s mother was able to send his two sisters away with human traffickers, where they eventually made it to Sweden having barely survived. This foreshadows how dangerous future attempts to escape would become, and it is shown when Amin, his mother, and his brother all attempt to escape together. They end up treading through treacherous snowy weather in the middle of a forest on their way to a boat with a group of refugees being led by a trafficker. The trafficker was ruthless, threatening people who were too slow or falling behind, and forcing them all into the hull of a small ship. Once water began to leak in during a terrible storm, the refugees had no choice but to bail water out to prevent the boat from sinking. After the storm cleared, they encountered a Norwegian cruise ship passing by, and they began celebrating, calling out to the passengers on board. They believed that they had been saved, and as Nawabi points out, “It’s a fantastic opportunity! All of a sudden… everything we want to achieve is right there. You could almost reach out and touch it.” (Flee  50:51). Shortly after he says this, the loudspeakers on the Norwegian cruise ship tell the refugees that Estonian border police have been called, and they are being taken back. The cheering ends, fear freezes their bodies and despair fills their eyes, all as the people on the cruise ship take photos of them. This moment of the film caused a deep pit to form in my stomach, similar to how I experienced anxiety and fear. I feared for the refugees and what they were about to go through, which was inhumane and dark. Their lives were already filled with being homesick, depressing losses,  and grains of hope falling through the cracks that were made with every failure they experienced whilst trying to escape. I wondered how and when Nawabi was going to make it to Sweden, even though his telling of the story makes it clear that he did at some point. It was even possible that he and his family would be sent back to Afghanistan, and how would they make it back then? Throughout the trip, his mother dreaded being on the ship, and couldn’t stand being on it. I wondered how she would recover from this traumatic experience, as well as the others she had already gone through. I wondered what might happen to all the refugees that were caught as well, and how they would survive. I realized that all these thoughts and questions were everything to the refugees themselves, who made it this far, only to find themselves getting sent back. In general, the moment moved me to feel worried for the refugees and made me realize that refugees have to go from place to place in fear of being thrown back to where they started.

Throughout the film, we first see Nawabi lie about his family being dead, before talking about his family more in depth. When his sisters escaped to Sweden, I was caught off guard by the fact they were alive, because I thought they were supposed to be dead, and the rest of his family would soon follow. When I learned that the reason why he says it is to protect his family and himself, to make sure he stays in Denmark, I found his circumstances to be further heartbreaking, because he had to keep a major part of his life a secret to make it out, and could not talk to anyone about the traumatic events he experienced. The animated film Flee has made the world and struggles of refugees into a visual story that cuts deep into the traumatic experiences and decisions refugees have to make.

Works Cited:

“Flee.” , directed by Poher R. Jonas. , produced by Charlotte de la Gournerie, et al. , Ro*Co Films, 2021. Alexander Street, https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/Flee.

Throughout human history, we have documented everything and anything we could, ranging from simple ideas that evolved over centuries, to detailed historical accounts of events from many different perspectives. Our methods of documenting these things have also varied, from simplistic wall drawings to complicated texts written, interpreted, and modified in various ways. We have developed the arts from this: literature, visual art, music, performance, dance, and most recently, photography. It is an art practiced every day, by nearly everyone with access to a digital camera, and is shared across all sorts of platforms. Photographs reveal not just our desire for the arts, but our strong desire to take part in it.

Ever since the camera became a tool just about anybody could use, the number of photos that we have taken has grown seemingly exponentially, revealing that we all have a desire to take part in the arts. When we look at the content of the photos many people take, we see this desire taking shape, “Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs… Most tourists feel compelled to put the camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable that they encounter.” (Sontag 6). Tourism takes up quite a large number of photos that are taken and shared across mediums like social media, which happens because of people’s desire to take part in such an accessible art as photography. It becomes a driving motivator for why many people travel, they want to find amazing things to take photos of, even if thousands of others have done the same. It often doesn’t matter that many others have done the same type of photo because people end up satisfied with the photos they take anyway. This is proven as Sontag further explains that taking photos is a relaxing activity, especially for tourists on vacations from places with intense work ethics, which is significant due to art often being referred to as a way to express our emotions (6-7). Perhaps a more interesting reason why people desire to partake in photography so much could be that its accessibility makes it a necessity to capture things before they are gone, “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability.” (Ibid 11). We often take photos of our loved ones, because they will inevitably be gone, similarly, we take photos of them throughout their lives because the separate stages of life eventually end as well. We take pictures of places because they could disappear, we photograph the world around us because we may never see it the way we did again, and we capture significant moments because they only exist for that period of time we will never have again. It is clear, then, that we all desire to take photographs because it is an art form that can be participated in with the click of a button, and often drives our motivation to explore the world and enjoy life, as it will eventually end.

The prevalence of photography in our world is a telling sign that we have discovered an art form not just capable of contributing to society and our shared reality, but also to our own individual realities. While the photos taken to invoke emotions from people all over the world stand out more than most others, the photos that we take ourselves stick to us and motivate us to take even more.

Works Cited:

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. RosettaBooks, 2005.