Digital Worlding Spring 2020

Project Statement

The inspiration for this project started with a surprisingly sunny day in March. After weeks of grey skies and chill, warmth was an unexpected gift. It appeared as if the entire university had been called out to enjoy the sunlight. This scene and its impression of congregation and serenity generated multiple impulses for “Fish in the Garden.” I wanted to visualize external warmth in order to motivate feelings of internal warmth. By being able to see and explore a world that mimicked finding and enjoying patches of sunlight, I hoped to elicit warmth and tranquility in the viewer. I also wanted to emulate the phenomenon of people flocking to sunlight. It boiled down to the desire to exist in sunlight, which developed organically into drawings of sparkling pools of light with large fish floating in them. It was important to me to shape the fish myself, and so a lot of time was spent making them on Blender before adding them to the scene. Around the fish, I wanted constant movement, focusing the fish as moments of stillness within their individual pools of light. Inanimate objects--cloves of garlic and tape dispensers--swim around the fish in schools, contrasting the static fish. Inverting what should move, and where they should go, (motionless fish in the air, tape dispensers swimming), attempts to immerse the viewer in a world where everything is cohesive but does not belong to our reality. 

As the circumstances of where I was living and studying changed unexpectedly, I was concerned that I would not be able to create something so positive. However, working on “Fish in the Garden” created positivity for me--being able to “sit” in this world and see my inspiration come to life did end up generating warmth. Hopefully it can for others.