A Passage Through Time: Suspended Animation During A Liminal Period
Studio has taught me a lot about my creative process throughout this semester — discovering my process and what does and does not work has lead me to my final project, Liminality and Transition.
Liminality can be described as a period of suspension, change and recalibration; and liminal periods are often described as ambiguous, disorienting, and uncomfortable. Learning more about liminality and its relation to COVID-19 and myself, led me down several different paths, including the perception of time, suspended animation and more.
How does this relate to me? How did I, personally, experience the liminal period and what does it mean to me?
I connected most with the concept of suspended animation in connection with liminality. In continuing my research, I put myself in a position where I was looking back on my life over the past year from the perspective of an outsider and comparing it with what life looked like before pre-pandemic. In a way, I was visualizing my passage through the time during COVID-19 and feeling the emptiness of it all.
I then proceeded to explore ways in which I could create a project that expressed all the research and reflection I had completed. I started creating line drawings of the photographs that illustrated moments in the liminal period that were significant to me.
Once I created these drawings I explored different ways in which to create a physical form for my project. This lead me to start exploring different tools and materials and eventually printing my drawings on transparency paper.
Once printed I continued to explore the different installation ideas, and in collaboration with my peers and professor, I decided to experiment with light and how the use of light can provide each person looking at my sketches different images and perspectives.
Putting this installation together came with many obstacles and roadblocks in terms of space and tools. I started off by trying to use tools like twine, wire, binder clips and to hang up the prints and ran into problems with the weight of the prints bringing down the installation.
As I continued to explore using new and available tools, I came to discover roofing nails and magnets. Using these tools, I was able to put together an installation where my prints were suspended along the walls in order to give ample room for audience members to interact with my prints using LED flashlights I provided.
Finally, for the digital portion of my project, I decided to create a video showcasing my drawings in chronological order as they were slowly stacked upon one another, blending with one another to create a new, abstract form.
