GONE BANANAS
this three photograph series was my parsons challenge - it was required to do an art/design challenge along with your application. the challenge was to depict something (an activity, a place, or an object) that is overlooked by humans in everyday life in three different ways. it could be the same medium, or three different mediums. a description with each image was also required. this is my parsons challenge (clearly it went well, i graduated in 2018).
installation, photography.
at the beginning of the project, i strived to find something that was so overlooked everyday it was pathetic humans did not realize it. one of the first things i thought of was gravity. being overly excited to do an installation, i began to create a kitchen scene in which a tuna sandwich was being made. after many trial and errors of hanging the different pieces, the installation was done. i took some pictures, photoshopped the bits of fishing line and screws that were visible, and it was done. unfortunately, i had not realized i overlooked the main goal of the project: to take an object, activity, or place overlooked in everyday life – none of which included the invisible force of gravity. looking at the now finished installation piece, i decided to find a loophole. i would still show gravity, but use an object already depicted in the scene to show the invisible force. this object, overlooked in my everyday life, is a banana. it is shown in zero gravity.
a few days after i finished my first installation – not yet knowing gravity did not fit for the project – i walked downstairs to find my father in the kitchen prepping for dinner at 4 pm.
me: dad, i’m hungry, but we don’t have anything good to eat.
dad: why don’t you have a banana?
me: i don’t like bananas.
dad: yes you do – what are you talking about?
me: i’m just not in the mood for a banana; i never really think about eating one – it’s just always there.
dad: *laughs* you’re weird.
absolutely unplanned, i looked back at my installation and noticed the banana. this is how i realized i overlooked the banana and that it would be my muse.
for my second piece, i decided to show the forgotten banana in a fruit bowl with the force of gravity we experience everyday. this photograph shows the lone and beaten up banana as the last – and ignored – fruit in the fruit bowl.
for the third and final piece, i decided to show the forgotten banana with double the gravity we experience everyday. if gravity were to double, the weight would be unbearable on the banana causing it to explode. for humans, the intensified invisible force would either weigh us down completely, or cause us to feel like we are carrying a cinderblock around on our backs. depending on the increase in the force, there would be different outcomes. in everyday life, humans overlook the gravitational pull we have to the earth. this invisible force could either make lunch incredibly hard to make if it were to decrease, or cause an outstanding weight on us if it were to increase. the banana, the overlooked fruit in my case, was the object i used to show the forces of gravity.