Reflection on Collaborating
Collaborating as a team of three was interesting and didn’t run as smoothly as I imagined. It was difficult to communicate and meet each other and as a team of 2 artists and 1 scientist, it was difficult for different fields to visualise the same idea, as we found that our first draft of slides was off topic. Although there were difficulties, it was interesting to have many different inputs and ideas. I think the collaboration could have run smoother if there was enough communication between all of us. I think there was a little less art aspect to our proposal than imagined and may have been difficult to understand. I think in future projects, I wouldn’t mind either as there are both positive and negative aspects of working as a group or individually, however, I do lean more into a group project.
Zen Teh
When I first walked into the exhibit and saw the sculptures, I wasn’t sure what it was all about. I became a little distracted from admiring Zen Teh’s artwork as she was speaking about her work so I didn’t completely hear her message of her work. However, as I viewed them from closer up I began to realise she had projected images of nature onto these stones and I started to interpret her work myself. I started to connect our impact on nature and these pieces could be seen as fragments of the remaining environment or how a futuristic world is filled with only rubble and this is to remind us of what we lost. The sculptures looked very beautiful yet very fragile on the pedestals which could be related to our relationship to nature and how our careless action could send nature crashing down.
Eco Film Festival – Ocean
Chasing Coral (2017) –Jeff Orlowski
Coral can live as long as the environment allows them to, however, their environment is becoming unlivable due to global warming and causing the phenomenon called coral bleaching. Much of the world is oblivious to this rare event in nature and do not realise that an unhealthy ocean means an unhealthy planet, as the ocean controls everything. 93% of the heat from greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions is absorbed by the ocean if it was not earth surface temperature would rise to 50 degrees Celsius. Within the last 30 years, 50% of the worlds coral have already disappeared and threatens to kill entire classes of coral if our actions are not reversed. The eradication of coral will also cause 1/4 of the planet’s creatures to diminish.
“If we can’t save this ecosystem, will we have the courage to save the next ecosystem down the line?” – Chasing Coral, 2017
My image depicts how bleaching is clearly evident and rapidly happening right in front of us but we, man kind are not acting fast enough to prevent even more coral from dying due to rising temperature from global warming.
Frontier Borneo: Shark Project
Borneo is home to the richest and most diverse marine area in the world and mankind have been poaching these creatures. In order to save sharks from being mass finned, shark expert, David McGuire buys unfinned and live sharks before they are sent to the markets. He travels across Borneo risking the sharks’ survival, to release them into a protected reef. Not only are sharks being poached but also turtles eggs. Activist, Alex Yee patrols the beach and collects freshly hatched turtle eggs to take to a hatchery where they are safe from the black market.
My image many dead finned sharks that are lifeless and grey that are sold at the markets. Even though shark expert, McGuire only protected 7 sharks from meeting the same fate as many other of the sharks out of the thousands he had seen at the markets, it is still a positive impact that they are alive (hence the red showing they are alive).
5 Days, 5 Walks
Metal:
Earth:
Water:
Space:
Off the Grid
4 hours off the grid, 2 hours inside, 2 hours outside and an image every hour.
The first hour (inside):
I felt confined and bored stuck in my small dorm room. I decided to pass the time by doing some work, I was unable to use any electricity and internet so I had to hit the books and use the less efficient way of researching. I always prefered to handwrite then to use my laptop so it wasn’t too different for me, although, I found it difficult to efficiently research. It was strange to reflect and think back when I was in junior school, I had primarily used books to research and I always spent my time flicking through the books at the school library.
The second hour (inside):
I continued to do some work, reading and cleaning of my room for the time I was inside. I found it difficult to entertain myself for the two hours I was stuck inside. It was crazy to think I spend hours inside every day when I had access to electricity and internet. I also suffered from the heat with no fan. In the final minutes of my inside time, I left to go outdoors for the next two hours. I had to walk down the fire escape from the top floor (13th floor).
The third hour (outside):
I walked around and observed nature and how beautiful and green the NTU campus is. I walked to ADM after 30 mins and sat down on the grass roof and wrote in my journal and read my book. It was very peaceful and I much prefer being outside with no technology and electricity. It helped me pay attention to my environment and I also people and bird watched while I was outside.
The fourth hour (outside):
As I was strolling around a bit after sitting on the ADM roof, it started to sprinkle then pour down. I ran to the closest bus stop and enjoyed the sound, smell of the rain and how it made the air cooler and less humid. It was perfect to sit and reflect on this exercise.