Capstone

Statement:

  This piece is centered within the larger context of what it truly means to grow up. With age, comes wisdom, but it comes at a price. Our innocence is lost the moment we face adversity. This loss of child-like innocence is what I sought to capture in this piece- depicted through the adverse effect of a seemingly faint loss of color. Looking back on childhood memories, they seem so colorfully vivid and bright. As we age, the world seems to become grey as we sink into what feels most comfortable. Children don’t have this safety net; to them, everything is mysterious, wonderful, dangerous, and beautiful. This installation focuses on a triad of animated sequences that serve as placeholders for my cloudy memories and allows the viewer to revert back to the way a child would view the world. 

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    Each short segment reveals a snippet of a core memory from my childhood that I could never fully describe. I felt that it was necessary to incorporate each scene as they are truly the building blocks for the nostalgia I feel when I look back on my early life. What it felt like for me to play in the grass on the playground, own my first goldfish, daydream out of the window of the room my sister and I shared, see a skyscraper for the first time, playing video games while adults were chatting in the next room, learning how to swim, that feeling when you rub your eyes too hard on purpose to see all of the shapes and colors appear, and holding hands with my parents but wanting to let go while crossing the street. All of which are small memories that I cherish, but have forgotten how much they contribute to the person I am today. 

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    Through my love for animation and digital design, I have been able to encapsulate my personal feelings about this loss of innocence into one piece. This work also symbolizes the natural transitions in life and advises us to not be timid of them, but to instead to remain inspired, creative, and curious despite growing further away from youth. 

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