Work in Progress images:
Final Product:
Throughout 2020, I’ve been trying to maintain an optimistic outlook on things, maybe that’s why this piece turned out the way it did.
I wanted to put less of an emphasis on the issues of “today” (Fall 2020) and more so focus on the surroundings. I’m very pleased with the leaf pattern that adorns the trees in both the foreground and background.
In terms of the figures themselves, each of them represent something that people are thinking about during this time. During quarantine, and even now, people have had their eyes glued to their phones, whether it be to tweet about the pandemic or to look up the latest news about the 2020 election. Each person has an emoji next to them that represents a certain thing, that works in tandem with their demeanor.
The red person with the dog has an emoji of a fist, representing the Black Lives Matter movement.
The person in the back-right corner, in my mind, is tweeting about how wearing a mask will make things worse and it’s oppressive or something.
The blue person towards the front’s emoji is an orange, because politics.
However, I believe the people who should be given the spotlight here is the couple sitting on the bench. I gave them the same colors as the tree in the center of the piece to symbolize them being grounded in the moment and enjoying just being near each other. If one were to look closely enough, they could see their hands barely touching. (Oh, how scandalous in this day and age!)
I believe that the couple represents my own way of thinking during this time. Even if things are crazy, I’m still thankful for being able to come back to campus and see my friends.
Katie Brooks 