Leave Your Mark

This project took the longest out of all the others I have worked on before. My plan for this initially was carbon-footprint theme. Then it changed to poverty. Seems like an opposite theme, but they are very much connected. I wanted to get the point across of what we [developed countries] do, will indirectly affect others in developing countries in our food choices, and other choices we make daily without thinking of the consequences. The main point of my piece was expressing food security. Many countries are having issues with it, because the population is growing to exponential that the soil is deprived of nutrients. Al Gore, environmental scientist, made a documentary explaining how the commercial industry for meat is accounting for a large percent of greenhouse emissions, as to 51%; pollution wise= 20%. He even explained that global warming would greatly slow down if more people turned vegetarian. Sadly, the meat companies have a firm grip on society. People do want to hear the facts, because of selfish reasons. There are many books, studies, and documentaries stating these facts, but go here for a deeper explanation: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/global-warming/

Lakes, seas, and other bodies of water are drying out, and its estimated that by the time I am old and have grandchildren, poverty and starvation will take the lives of many more. Farmers will not be able to feed 10 billion people in 2050, because of the depleted nutrients in the soil, and arid climate. While many people ignore the ugly side of their actions as to where their trash goes, where their food is and comes from, and how much CO2 is emitting from their cars; the truth is landfills, slaughterhouses, and cancer are not pretty topics yet they are all becoming increasingly larger and harmful.

My ideas  continued to evolve, because it is a broad topic...

The beginning: The first step was making the canvas. This took approximately 2 days, because it was my first time using a staple gun, and the frame was large. I intentionally wanted a larger canvas to represent the world. Then coating it with gesso took about 3 days for the 2 coats [above picture]. The gesso was bumpy, but I did not mind the texture, so I chose not to sand it down. During this step I had time to think of ideas while I was painting.

Middle: Next I found magazine cutouts all from National Geographic. These pictures are classics, such as the one of a refugee girl from Iran, back from the 1980s. *in progress shown above* I did not want pictures to be so graphic, yet I wanted to display poverty and starvation as real as it is. I loved seeing the good and bad of cultures, and exotic places all together.

End: Meanwhile, I painted a large white foot on the bottom right corner. Then made a stamp of a banana, because it represents me. This was my favorite part of the piece, because I felt that it tied the whole theme together of making my mark on the world.

I hope that it will shed more light on the reality that many ignore, and someone will begin to see how their trivial actions on the world do matter. I turned in my piece to the Halle Cultural Arts Center, and I am selling it at an unlimited price. I am planning to auction it to the highest bid, where 20% will go to the Halle, and 80% to UNICEF. This will provide children with food and water. I like this idea so much, that I am most likely going to donate the money with every piece I make! Everyone has a talent, and gift, and their purpose is to help the world, and leave our positive marks.

Final Piece--->