Final Collage

Inga Cordts Media 10-2 My philosophy is to lack one; to live unguided by strong belief. I have moral tendencies regarding acceptance, integrity and empathy, but I try to keep an open mind. I try to think and discover, to seek out mystery. But, at the same time I find happiness in the comfort of what I know I love. I believe in people, in potential and change and memories. By appreciating the complexity of life and my own self I choose to live to gain understanding, but also to appreciate that some things can't be understood. Loving yourself comes from knowing yourself; I place attention on what love and interests me and who and what I would miss if it was gone. By living with my heart and mind in power, I aspire to give them strength and knowledge. Life's great, people are great, and so is the mind and what we feel; it's a waste of time to ever let them stop amazing you. Artistic Statement: COLLAGE 1 - The first collage shows my interest in travel and people. I hope to move to a city, here represented as New York. I like the liveliness of cities and the calmness of travel. I think learning of a city until it becomes part of you would be fulfilling. COLLAGE 2 - This shows my tendency to exploration. I like to learn and to be interested, so the gold-surrounded magnifying glass shows the importance of observation. The girl with the flashlight stresses the aspect of curiosity in life, and the stairs leading nowhere show the multiple possibilities it presents. COLLAGE 3 - The center piece in this collage is a person's body without a face. Where the face should be I placed a piece of paper saying thoughts, covered by a red heart. This shows my connection of the heart and mind; they're equally important. The background of the collage is busy and mixed representing confusing thoughts or emotions, but the image previously stated stands in the middle, over-ruling all insecurity. The two quotes on the left hand-side say "The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that is it hostile, but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death, our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light." Stanley Kubrick and "This is what makes your self-respect so important. I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look into the hearts and minds of others for your happiness." Hunter S. Thomspon The first shows the admittance of the lack of control we hold, but the hope that we can still find beauty and meaning within our lack of control. That resonates to me because I find it important to accept that there are not only unanswered questions, but truth in the unclearness of them. The second quote is a strong basis for my life; self-respect and respect for your parents is undeniably important. If you can't love these two things, you can't even try to love anything else. At the same time, it's too difficult to ever expect someone else to be your sole source for happiness or company - sometimes you have to do that for yourself. COLLAGE 4 - This collage represents the simplicity of life. I chose to contrast the process of a bouquet dying compared to an image of a man's silhouette growing larger while his heart grows smaller. I want to portray the feeling of death and growing old, but also my opinion on the process. At birth, the heart may be the largest, but I think it can remain that way until old age. So, I placed the smallest heart at the beginning of the bouquet and the largest heart at the end of the bouquet to show that they are interchangeable; birth and death. The heart you are born with isn't larger, only cleaner. The revolution of the two processes shows that all of life is a culmination; it's not about the birth or death. Sources: The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai Quotes by Stanley Kubrick/Hunter S. Thompson