Intercultural Design | Project 3 / Final Project
26/02/2024 - 08/02/2024 | Week 6 - Week 7
Nadia Chong Wen / 0355736 / Bachelor's of Design (Honours) in Creative Media.
Project 3 - Final Project
LECTURE NOTES (WEEK 6 - WEEK 7)
NO LECTURE.
INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT 3 - FINAL PROJECT
We continued on from Project 2 where we have done the field study about the chosen culture we have selected. For this project, we are required to showcase the culture through our own creativity in a physical form. It could be an object/ clothes/ a bag or more.
1. Discussion
After we managed to get the consultation from our lecturer, it was suggested to us to be the art itself since we would need to retell the story and culture through ourselves. After discussing with each other, we realised that doing what he suggested would be a bit too time consuming. Not only that, some of us thought it would be a bit disrespectful to showcase the day of the dead and 'commercialised' it. Instead, we thought of another way to express the culture.
2. Ideas
We initially thought of making a calavera skull as the final product. However, some of us thought that it would be too common since other groups that are doing the Mexican culture, specifically Day of the Dead, might be making the calavera as their final project as well. In the end, we decided to scrap the idea of making a skull for the final project.
Some of us thought of doing something like a parade mentioned by the person we interviewed in Project 2 with the reasoning that it is somewhat a new thing now in Mexico. However, with similar reasons as to why we chose not to retell the story and culture through ourselves as stated above, we decided not to go with that as well.
3. Final Idea
Figure 1.3 | Ofrenda
In the end, we chose the idea of an offering table. All of us were in agreement that this would be the best option in terms of time and work load. The interviewee sent us an image of an ofrenda and it appeared to be one of the most significant and meaningful parts of the Day of the Dead itseld, which caused us to choose this.
Once we came to this decision, we once again delegated tasks to each other. All of us had important roles to ensure the completion of this project. We did what we could avaible at home in order to be able to reuse it in the future and bought whatever we needed in order to complete our tasks.
These are some references on what we should put on the offering table. Things that we wanted to make, print out necessary pictures or draw to decorate the offering table.
4. References for Ofrenda Table
5. Plan for Ofrenda Table
Figure 1.6 | Ofrenda Table Layout
This is the rough idea of the offering table layout and where we'll put the items we made on. We all have our own respective tasks to work on and we were sure to make sure we can use things that are reusable at home so we can also reduce our cost. Besides the ofrenda, we would be placing a board filled with information about the Day of the Dead to share more about the Day of the Dead.
We decided to have a board by the side of the ofrenda that consist of the information about the Day of the Dead and the significance of its culture. The board would be filled with decorative elements, colours to represent the day of the dead and the Mexican culture as a whole.
6. Process of making items
One of our groupmates managed to get her hands on some clay in order to make skulls that are similar to the sugar skulls, the task she was assigned to do. She molded them and and colored them into beautifully colored calavera skulls.
One of my groupmates wanted to decorate the ofrenda more and decided to print out some cut outs of Day of the Dead decorations so that the ofrenda can look much more complete. Some would be used on the table itself while other would be used on the candles, and photo frames.
We did not want to put any real pictures of anyone as to not be disrespectful and decided to decorate the photo frames and to make the photo within the frame something related to it. The first picture were the photo frames that were decorated by one of our groupmates who was tasked with me to decorate them and they were decorated by the cutouts from earlier. As for me, I followed her example, wanting to keep mine more black and white than vibrant to reflect old photos.
We wanted to place a board beside the ofrenda that consisted of information about the Day of the Dead. The reason that we decided to do this is for those who do not know about culture so that they would be able to understand it through the information board.
I brought an antique bowl since it felt like it would be useful in this project.
A groupmate wanted to make banners that look like cloth. However, due to the lack of resources, he instead tried to add in texture on the paper instead, it can't be seen from a distance but it can be seen when you get close up.
7. Makeup
We thought it would be a good idea to do the calavera makeup during our presentation when we met up as it is symbol of respect in Day of the Dead. We searched some up on Pinterest for inspiration and tried our best to recreate the looks. This was also our very first time doing face painting like this.
It was a very interesting experience to do this sort of makeup without any prior experience. Almost everyone was laughing so much during this time cause we were talking about different things and how much we're doing for this. We were able to encourage each other and worked together as a team. It was a really fun experience overall.
8. Final for Project 3
Figure 2.5 | Data Collection (PDF)
Figure 2.6 | Progression Slides (PDF)
Figure 2.7 | Group Project
Figure 2.8 | Ofrenda Table
Figure 2.9 | Information Board
Figure 3.0 | Presentation Video
FEEDBACK
Week 6
General Feedback
- Discuss your progress with your mentor
- Dateline pushed to the 29th March
- Have it on Zoom (Presentation)
Week 7
General Feedback
- Consult with Mentor
REFLECTION
In order to present a culture in an accurate way, you would have to do study it in great detail and make sure that you are not just perpetuating the stereotypes of the culture. There are so many little and different information out there that it could get confusing and you can easily get misinformation. The Day of the Dead is truly a beautiful and wholesome celebration that is very unique and different from other cultures which depict death in a negative light. I myself have been captivated by their celebration and grew to love reading every little thing we researched about it. It was very different from how death is depicted here in Malaysia, and I quite like it.
Me and my groupmates wanted to do something unique and not too common for the project, but due to the lack of time we had from balancing out our other assignments, we did what we could by thinking of making an ofrenda instead. It was something that truly encapsulated the culture as a whole, so it would be the best option for us. The tasks I was tasked with were surprisingly challenging and thought my frames wouldn't compare to the others. However, even after a mess up on my part, I managed to pull through and not drag my team down.
It was really hard to balance the workload that was given to me due to personal issues, but researching the Day of the Dead truly made me happy with how I was truly free to explore it. This was truly an experience that I will carry on in this programme.
FURTHER READING
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture as well as having an immense impact on the art of the 21st century. He is an artist who believes art should serve the mind instead of the eye.
REFRENCES
- Tate. (n.d.) Marcel Duchamp.
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/marcel-duchamp-1036
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