Earthwork

Our Earthwork, aka "The Meat Tree" was first based off of Rembrandt's Carcass of Beef. Clearly the draw with this work was the meat. But also behind the obvious slab of meat hanging is an uneasiness. This painting is very vulgur, and a little bit uncomfortable. We liked this, and wanted the same results for our photo. Rembrandt removed the cow from it's natural habitat and tries to glorify it here, this naturally is very uncomfortable for us.
I don't know how to rate the success of our earthwork, there are things I love about it and others that are incredibly frustrating. Our earthwork I think accomplished the ideal of being uncomfortable with choices we make, the set-up of it all was really cool to be apart of. Apart from all of that, I wished we had gotten better photos. The initial vision that we had for this of being incredibly gory and hard to look at morphed into a photo that makes you ask why there's such a weird looking piece of fruit. I think this is effective in a totally different way. It shows how deceptive our society can be. All in all, whether good or bad, our photo makes you think and ask questions. This is successful in my mind.

My group wrestled a lot in writing our proposal with whether or not this would be relevant to the site we were taking the photo at and setting up at. At first we said definitely not, but the more I've been engrossed with this project I think it is relevant to the Native American Site. I think that in the sense that it's a frequented site,  and to have this juxtaposition of thought present there is relevant to everyone. So that's just the site, but related to the "native american'ness'"of the site, No.

This is the part of art that is hard for me- the unconventionality of it. And this was especially difficult with the earthwork project. I am a literal person, I like to be efficient. And this project was hard to feel like I was doing that with. So, I think it is weird. I think that is okay. And I think it's okay that I still think it's weird. I am sitting in the 'weirdness' and I feel good about that. I don't know that I can appreciate the importance of this activity in its full but I think I have come to appreciate it more fully than when I began this semester.


Earthwork Videos

[i suggest you play simultaneously]

Landscape. 

, just by the mechanics of a camera and the convention of one-point 

    perspective, puts the viewer at the center of the universe, in a position of mastery 

    and control. ?A place of the single individual, not a community; a place that once 

    thought to be occupied by God. (The theme of the Renaissance: “Man is the Measure 

    of All Things.”The idea that we  occupy the center of the universe, (at least in our

     imaginations) that we own land and resources ourselves without necessarily

    acknowledging the earth as a gift from God, that we have autonomy over the earth 

    to do with it as we please, is a problem and is at the root of many of our issues in 

    the world. ?Is that an inherent problem reflected in the way we view the landscape? 

I think this is really true. I often find myself totally engrossed in landscapes. But I also have an inclination to zoom in on the specificity of things in nature like one little leaf or rain droplet.  It was harder for me to think specifically about zooming out and taking in a landscape in total. This landscape shows the vastness of God. Your eye doesn’t choose to focus in on one thing but the landscape in total. I like the contrast of colors, the slant, the imperfections, and the horizon line. I don’t think this photo makes me feel like I own the world, as if I’m the only one that occupies it. Instead, I feel outnumbered, small. Not in the same way I do when looking at a photo of the Grand Canyon. But more so, that I know I’m twice the height of those yellow flowers, and seeing how many of them there are.. thinking of myself in relation to that…. And there being that many people in one field… I’m clearly not alone.

This photo celebrates the earth. The earth is fallen just as we are, but it is being restored and renewed and one day it will be made perfect again. I love the interaction we are permitted with the earth. I think firstly, and probably one of the first things you would notice about this photo is the color. Yellow, blue, and green, are all signs of growth, excitement, and hope. This is in celebration of our earth. The line to the right of the photo shows that enough people have walked through to form a trail, this isn’t man-made: that is beautiful. But, I think that this celebrates how we interact with the landscape.   

Gungor,The Earth is Yours

Your voice it thunders
The oaks start twisting
The forest sounds with cedars breaking
The waters see You and start their writhing
From the depths a song is rising

Now it’s rising from the ground

Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy Lord
The earth is Yours and singing
Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy Lord
The earth is Yours
The earth is Yours