Even before visiting the second exhibition, I already had my heart set on which two pieces I would be writing about. I connected with both immediately after seeing them in person and reading the author's bios with their statements about their pieces I just knew I had to pick these two. The two pieces that I will be writing about are, "Home Sweet Home" by Sergio G Villamizar made in 2015 and "Bonding with Plastic" by Olga Mercedes Bautista made in 2019.
"Home Sweet Home" by Sergio G Villamizar immediately stood out to me as soon as we walked into the exhibition. The one art piece is made up of more than 100 images taken in a small area in New Jersey. This piece like many other can cause an abundance of interpretations of what it's hidden meaning really is. After carefully analyzing this piece what my take away from it is that as a member of a city that is so quickly changing like Jersey City I can relate to it. In Sergio's statement about this piece he states "Places give us a sense of belonging, they inspire us, and they provide comfort and influence our self-concept and state of mind." This quote many people in my city and many cities around the world no matter there economic status and number of people in their community can relate to. This quote to me means no matter how bad a place is, its still a place that means something to someone. Many people just a few years ago would look at Jersey City as a "bad place" but this "bad place" was still our home, a place that "provided us comfort and influenced our self-concept and state of mind".
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| Sergio Villamizar Home Sweet Home 2015 Photo-collage |
Later in Sergio's statement about his piece, he states "We tend to get attached to places, where we hold memories, some of which we cherish and some of which due to unforeseen events now may cause pain (World Trade Center, 1991)." This quote to me means that the places that we grew up loving and being able to see every day are slowing disappearing now. These places are disappearing slowly not all because of unfortunate events like The World Trade Center but because gentrification happening right now in our cities. Sergio's piece is a work of activism because it represents the people who still live in cities that outsiders what to change like we don't exist. Sergio's piece is the voice of the people who are still here and have no plans in leaving no time soon. This artwork creates awareness because it shows how much change is happening so quickly from a higher light and opens the eyes to people who don't realize what is happening in their own cities. Sergio's piece can be related to the book "Ways of Seeing," chapter 7 page 143 it states "The power to spend money is the power to live. According to the legends of publicity, those who lack the power to spend money becomes literally faceless." I picked this quote because this is how big cooperation's look at us who live in cities, they prefer to bring in people who have more money and can pay three times the amount of rent that we can afford.
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| Sergio Villamizar Home Sweet Home 2015 Photo-collage |
The second piece that I will be analyzing is "Bonding with Plastic" by Olga Mercedes Bautista made in 2019. The reason why I chose this piece is because how big and appealing it hangs in the exhibition. This art piece is made up of three pieces that are suppose to represent logs from a tree. These three logs however, have a twist because if you look closely you notice that the logs have plastic netting where fruit comes in along with stickers found on fruit and also just other types of plastic. Olga made this grand art piece with pieces she found along the ocean after Hurricane Sandy. After spending much time thinking about this piece I've come to the conclusion its overall theme is destruction and change.
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| Olga Mercedes Bautista Bonding with Plastic 2019 Silicone, leaves, and plastic debris |
Olga's artwork is representing the pollution that we as humans are producing. We as humans tend to forget how much garbage we accumulate and throw away like its just suppose to disappear. Human pollution has gotten out of hand to the fact that is no longer just affecting us but wildlife around us. Many other things are also affected like for example, the climate, water levels, and drinking water available for us. This piece represents destruction and change because it shows how much damage we are causing and how its starting to affect us. Many may look at these three logs as nothing more but in fact, they represent life. Without the millions of trees on earth, we wouldn't have any air to breathe. If we continue to not care for stuff like trees we will no longer be able to survive on planet earth. This piece shows activism because it causes fear of what the possible outcome may be if we don't change for the better. I can relate this piece to Susan's Sontag's "On Photography" which states "Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it." The reason why I picked this quote is because the photograph that is proven is Olga's piece. Many people don't realize how much we pollute and how much waste we produce and Olga's piece proves that the trash that one person can find on the beach is enough to create a large art piece. This photograph of her piece can open the eyes to millions of people around the world and create change.
Works Cited: "Ways of Seeing," chapter 7 page 143
Susan's Sontag's "On Photography"
Works Cited: "Ways of Seeing," chapter 7 page 143
Susan's Sontag's "On Photography"
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