In this next project, there are many things i want to convey. But most importantly, I want it to be about the disruption of the usual narrative of Chinese New Year due to covid. Hopefully, I have been able to outline why this is such a personal subject for me from the previous blog posts and as well for most asians in the world. In order to come up with a plan and subject matter for this project, I have set myself some criteria for what could possibly work. Firstly, the work should really be able to convey the sense of disruption and break from the norm, time old traditions that are cemented in social occurrence suddenly halted. Next I want it to be clear, or implied that this halt was the product of Covid 19. I think there are many different ways to reference it without literally spelling it out in the project. Subsequently, it should definitely be able to convey a sadness from it as well. Finally, I want it to show how much it has affected Asian people all across the globe.
- rat with mask stuff – I originally got this idea from typical visual posts and art that is shared on large family group chats during the festive period and leading up to it. In the past, my family even made our own for the year of the dog, featuring our dog and a Chinese New Year salad that resembled it. I think making one of these types of shareable posts would be able to convey how COVID really effected how people celebrated Chinese. However, this thumbnail for me is too on the nose for me with the mice wearing masks. I think it also doesn’t fully convey a the disruptive aspect of this event.
- Big CNY lunch – This was the first imagery I had for this project. A large typical Chinese New Year feast that I have been missing out of. I think the imagery of this is really strong and compelling, especially if the viewer is mildly aware of Asian cuisine. It allows for a full exploration of dishes and cuisines that I haven’t been able to have in almost 2 years. However, this type of composition doesn’t convey a disruption, and is more of a blissful daydream for me. This would be inspired by illustrative work of Gabrielle Widjaja.
- Boarding gate- I think this idea might be the strongest one of all because it hits all of the criteria. A departure gate full of cancelled flights is perhaps one really sad way of demonstrating disruption. A cancelled flight effects so many people, not just the people who were meant to be on it, but for the potential people waiting for them. I think this mode also allows for a very subtle mention of covid as I can indirectly mention the year of which this is taking place (2020 the year of the rat). I think with context clues of all the different places which the cancelled flights were going to (cities in Asia) it would be able to also show how so many people in Asia were affected by it. Therefore, this is the composition I have chosen!
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