Digital Nation

After watching the film digital nation it leaves me with conflicting ideas on how I feel about growing up in the mass media age. As a child of this media upcoming, I feel it has helped a great deal as far as getting in contact of people emmediantly or getting help with assignments but i also realized how much its brought us to our knees as far as it being something that can cause withdrawls. It has made people dependent on the constant media stream. People cant seem to go without video games, cell phones, computers anymore. I dont mean everyone, but almost evryone. Its like learning a new language, at a younger age its easier to learn because of the brains development, children whom pick this up early on know everything digital like the back of their hands. Its amazing yet eary at the same time.

Photographs

Jennifer Nicholson

ENC1102

January 28, 2013

                                                                         Photographs

                “Everything you can imagine is real”, words of wisdom at their fullest, by Pablo Picasso. To imagine is to create one’s own warped sense of reality. A human’s perception becomes reality, even if it is not real. If I perceive an oven to be hot, then it is hot regardless if the stove is turned off or is a boiling point temperature. This statement will make complete sense or no sense at all; it depends on the reader’s sense and perception.

                While attending the 31^st annual College wide photography competition at the Kent Gallery I was given the opportunity to get a glimpse of the student’s perceptions and what they made a reality for themselves. As we try to make sense of all that goes on around us we express ourselves through various designs, sounds, movements; art. I chose three artists from the collection to describe their pieces and how for one moment I felt as if I had stepped into the same reality with a complete stranger.

                Artist/ photographer Josh Shipee’s piece, Cemetery Beach, depicted a beach decaying with lifeless trees, no sign of existence, in which spoke so many words without saying a thing. Where what many would imagine to be a place of only sunlight and happiness can truly carry the burden of feeling or being one of only death and decay. As if everything withers away and falls like ashes of cigarettes between your fingers.

                The second piece featured at the art gallery was IDK by Michelle Fleck. This piece is a photograph of a empty wooden frame hanging in the trees. It was simple, but it wasn’t. The artist took the word right out of my mouth when I saw the photograph. It was beautiful and simple but I had no clue what I was supposed to be seeing. It was a mind trip piece, you couldn’t figure out what you were supposed to be thinking but it kept you thinking. The art takes you back to Pablo Picasso’s quote, that reality is what you make it.

                The third piece featured in the show was Other Bag by Pierce Webber. The title says it all, exactly what you’d think it means. Something so hush-hush it is less shameful to just say “other” in reference to the bag than to actually explain the belongings to this particular bag as well as the fact that the title adds a bit of humor to it. The duffle bag in the photograph is open with whips, chains, ropes, a bra, and handcuffs spilling out. It gives an image of the humans sexuality spilling out, a “buried” subconscious, like water running out of an over flowing tub.

                Like the great artist once said, “Everything you can imagine is real”. Picasso’s work made no sense to me but it was not my reality for me to make sense of, only to observe. The art work at the show was beautiful and they all told a beautiful and intriguing story but my perception of reality connected me with these photographs. Take the allegory of the cave for example, when explained to you, you understand what the intended message was but with the power of the human mind, the message could be perceived in so many ways.

ENC1101 Experience

My experience in ENC1101 was very dull. I took it last semester in a online class. My teacher was very helpful but was only available for one hour on sunday. I didnt feel as obliged to to the work when i had no one to show up to when first beggening the class. I loved writing because i turned my paper into one of my paintings. Bright and colorful. Spelling was never a problem and neither was creativity, but i knew from the beggening placement was my problem. I would put commas in the wrong places, or go off topic completely. In 2013, I am looking foward to learning everything I can and only becoming a stronger writer and learner.