Project Two Artistic Statement

With Project two being titled “Imagining Communities”, we thought it would be nice to do a neighbor that at least one of our group members were familiar with and that was Chatham. We chose Chatham because; I have lived there for 19 years. The recipe book was made from note cards. We chose the old fashion recipe cards because, when our grandmothers would cook they would write down different amounts of certain spices or even amounts of certain foods to mix with other foods. The foods that we chose are food different restaurants that we like or would like to cook one day. We went to five different restaurants like Harold’s Chicken Shack, Reggio’s Pizza, Grand Chinese Kitchen, Chicago Firehouse, and Docks. We picked one food off of each menu that we really liked and we created a recipe for it. The reason why we chose to do a recipe book is because, we wanted people to see some of the foods that made the community the way it is. The five foods that we chose were chicken wings, shrimp fried rice, pepperoni, catfish, Philly steak cheese. Some of the food was geared towards certain culture because; there are many cultures and many different races in my community. Harold’s Chicken Shack is kind of geared towards people that like southern food. Reggio’s Pizza is geared towards people that like Italian food. Grand Chinese Kitchen is geared towards people who like Chinese food or Japanese food. Chicago Firehouse is geared towards people who like a variety food like Philly Steak and Cheese and steak and chicken fajita. Dock’s is geared towards people who like southern food. This was the first time that my group members have been to the south side and it was pretty cool to show them where I was born and raised. They liked my neighborhood and the liked the restaurants that were in my neighborhood.

Group Creative Brief

- What will the project be - MEDIUM? For project two, we will use a recipe book as the medium.

- How will you make it? - PROCESS? We will take menus from other restaurants and cut our favorite dish out and paste it to a printer paper. Then after we picked our favorite dish we made a recipe book.

- Which GUIDING QUESTIONS does your project address, and how? The guiding question that we will answer is what are the obligations of individuals to a collective, and to other individuals within that group?

- What is the MESSAGE? How do you want your audience to respond? We want the audience to get knowledge about the Southside and specifically the Chatham area.

- What other artists or media have influenced your groups' project? The project was we had to follow someone and make observations about that person influenced our group’s project.

Stranger with a camera

1. I felt sympathy for her when she was crying, how she was trying to be a big sister and comfort her ten year old brother. It was a big deal when she saw her dad because he was in and out of her life so much.I would try my best to spend as much time as I could because I would never know when his time is up. Also to know that he would probably never be coming back and being able to forgive the murderer of her father really shows a good heart. I don't know if I could have done the same exspecially because she didn't see her father enough as it is. She showed patience when she found it in her heart to forgive.

2. A picture is worth a thousand words. You can think many thoughts from looking at a picture. That's why it is the filmmaker's job to deliver the message or story behind it so people wont thing the wrong thing.

3. I don't see a camera as a gun. You aren't killing anyone; you're pointing it at people, but a camera doesnt harm anyone. I feel that that similie is a bit to literal. It's threatening. As long as there is an understanding between the artist and what he or she is shooting no one should feel threatened.

Gleaners and I Response

1. What was most surprising to you about this film? The thing that I found most surprising is how the film’s language was French. I also liked the rap that was in French. It showed me a new side of the French culture.

2. How does Varda, a well-respected experimental film maker, compare her work with gleaning? Varda mentioned that, "It wasn't nice but she liked doing it". Just like gleaning the film it wasn't nice but people sometimes enjoyed doing it. Also most of the things she filmed were objects that she found.

3. How do the images of gleaning by Millet & Van Gogh differ from those Varda presents in her film? The difference between them were the time difference. Also Millet & Van Gogh had a painting and Varda actually had a film of people gleaning.

Group Creative Brief

I think for project two the medium that I will use is movie maker. My goals and objectives for this project would be for me to show other people where u grew up at and spent most of my childhood. The guiding questions that I would like to focus on are what is the relationship between the realities and perceptions of a community, among what communities are, what they believe themselves to be, and what they wish they were?, How are the images and imagination of a community generated? And how does the power of imagination affect the reality of the present? I feel that those are questions that need to be answered because; I have kind of worried about the community as a whole. I would probably just record people walking up and down the streets, people sitting at the bus stop waiting on their bus; just basically the scenery.
I want my audience to get a picture of how some communities are and not all communities are the same. Well I know a lot about the south side because, I live on the south side and we can get a lot from around the south side.

Project One

Artistic Statement

With the project being titled “Composing a Self”, I decided to go and observe someone that I don’t know as a friend but that I do hang around with. The pictures that I have chosen are the things he likes to do and that I observed him doing. The reason why I chose the music song that I did was because it’s his favorite song. How I went about doing this project is I went to my friend’s room then we went to Darrion’s room. I had to go to his room with my friends not to make it look oblivious that I was observing him and his actions. I took mental notes of the things that he did and said. The pictures that I showed in the movie are things he likes. During this observation process I thought to myself that I should do a power point but windows movie maker is easier and more exciting. The reason why I did a power point or movie maker is because I’m good with computers and using computers come easy to me. So why not do something that is easy for me. I’m more skilled at computers then doing a speech. I did think about doing a skit but I didn’t know what it was going to be about. The questions that I answered is how so we see others, how we identity and think about other and how do others compose their identities. I think those questions are very important because, this is how people get the wrong impression of people. All of the things that he likes doing in the pictures, I saw through observing him times that I was around him. The summary of the piece is that sometimes when we look at people their life is not what we perceived it to be. Little did I know that he has had several concussions. He got into a lot of fights when he was younger and upcoming in age. He has had to fight and stick up for his friends and family. This is the first time that I have had to sit and observe someone for a project. I have learned a lot form this project. I have learned how first impressions are made. Sometimes people don’t necessary have to speak or say a word. Their actions speak louder than words. During the days of me observing him, I took mental notes of the things that he liked. Now with the pictures that I put in the movie maker, you can’t tell that he has been through a rough childhood. I want the audience to understand how people observe other people and that their first thoughts may not be totally right about them. One thing that you can learn from this is that it’s not good to judge or make a comment about someone that you don’t know on a daily basis. The strengths of this project is the project it self. I tried my best to fulfill the requirements for this project. I think I did well for the first time. I really like how I put the music together with the pictures and the words that go hand in hand with the pictures. The music is his favorite song. The group is from Saint Louis, the same state he is from. I think one weakness is the length of the movie. I think that the length of the movie was too short and that it could have been longer. I could have given more pictures and words. I really enjoyed doing this project. I hope to do this again in the future.