Process: Motion
For our third and final studio assignment of the year, we were asked to interpret Aristotle’s philosophy on motion and represent the concept in both digital and print format.
While reading Aristotle, I began to think about motion in terms of the body. I was interested in how the often unconscious movements of our body can imply certain things to those around us. I realized that a lot can be implied by movement. People are constantly interpreting body language and it affects how we interact with others in the world. But I began to ask myself some questions about this type of motion — how many of our assumptions about body language are biased? How many of them are rooted in gendered stereotypes or generally held presumptions? And finally, are these thoughts holding us back from expressing ourselves freely and keeping an open mind
to others?
The Motion Project consisted of three parts done over three weeks. Each week we would make something in the form of print and something digital so that we could represent motion in both static and dynamic forms. For the first week we had to create 3 4-panel posters and 5 sketches using p5.js coding.
I used the same imagery an all three rounds of my posters. To get these images I recorded myself putting my hand on my hip, crossing my legs, and crossing my arms. I then took some stills from the video and overlaid them on top of each other to show movement. Much of the text in the posters comes from a WikiHow article for transgender men on how to “pass” as male. There is a huge culture of trying to “pass” in the transgender community, meaning a trans woman would try to come across as a cisgender woman, and a trans man would try to come across as a cisgender man. I identify as transmasculine and non-binary, and I think trying to pass can be important in certain situations, like when there is an issue of safety. However, in general, I personally don’t think I should have to change my behaviors in order to be seen as more masculine. I use the quotes from the WikiHow article and juxtapose them against pictures of me either doing typically “feminine” body movements or trying to do typically “masculine” body movements.
I had a lot of fun experimenting with the p5.js coding. I had never done coding before, and I definitely want to learn more of it because I think I could incorporate it into my design in some really interesting ways.
For the second week we had to make two A1 posters and 3 After Effects animations. I got some feedback on my posters from the previous week, and from that I realized I should treat the type differently and that the 4 panel layout served some of the image sequences better than others. This is how I came up with the two new layouts, with much smaller text. It was my first time really working in After Effects, so I was not super happy with the animations I came up with. However, the one published above, which uses the image of my arms crossed made me realize I wanted to use this video in my final video, but in a much simpler way.
Below are the final products of this project. A series of three posters and an accompanying video.
