Journal Entry 1 AYA
Remember that familiar jittery feeling you get before stepping into school on the very first day? Before arriving at AYA for the first time on Monday my mom told me to take a deep breath, fix my face, and relax. It’s safe to say that was the most stressed I’ve felt throughout this experience, and while I’m hesitant to call the rest of it smooth sailing I’d like to think my first week experience has been somewhat close to it. Throughout all the different speakers, lessons, and media we engaged with this week I was able to gain new insight into the processes of creating and consuming.
Physical media has always been something close to my heart, there’s something to be said about what you can touch and feel with your hands. Part of the readings we did for our communications class was about Zines. Hand-crafted, individually produced and authored, zines became symbols of resistance and counter-culture against the government armed machine of mass media. Duncombe in his writing about Zines speaks of both the limitations and powers of the underground alt community. While the reach is narrow the reality is this culture dies when it’s fed to a larger audience. When mainstream media turns these vast forms of arts into bite sized pieces, it loses all of what gives it value. Their pages are jagged, the lines aren’t straight, it’s everything your average copy of TIME isn’t. Seeing such beautiful examples of this really inspired me to go in a similar direction with our group project. Our decision to do a mixed media zine is a testament to how we can combine traditions of old and new to create something that speaks to our youth right now. Being able to scrapbook and put together all these different ideas and perspectives into an art form that feels authentic is something that really made me excited. Flipping through the pages of a zine is such an immersive experience, the reader is able to feel surrounded by the bright colors and bold headlines. It’s a feeling we hope to replicate while providing information and resources about topics that are important to us.
Similarly in our communications class we learned about infographics and the thought that goes into every single creative decision down to the colors and the fonts. One of the readings we did about W.E.B. Du Bois was really fascinating to me, I loved the way he was able to combine art and data to make something so simple yet so ingenious. The data was easy to view but it was framed in a way that made you want to understand all of his artistic choices. We also saw different examples of what effective and non-effective infographics looked like, it hadn’t really occurred to me prior how much of a difference the way you display your data makes. While zines and infographics are both great ways to share messages, the type of media you use is very much dependent on what you’re trying to say. I’ve found that generally zines tell better stories while infographics are better for displaying data.
On another note, in our Journalism class we got the opportunity to visit CAAM and see their Juneteenth exhibitions which was an incredible experience. The work of Nelly Mae Rowe in specific was really something that spoke to me, her art was not only beautiful but rich. There were so many different layers of complexity to her work, her work with patterns and shapes really brought her artwork to life in a way I haven’t really experienced before. Being able to examine her work up close was remarkable, her attention to detail really stood out, and the exhibition displayed all of her art, even the dolls she made, or a sketch on the back of an egg carton. The perspective she had on the world was so vast, but also so beautiful. Even despite all the challenges she faced she still managed to bring so much light to a world so full of darkness.
To conclude, this first week of AYA was not only a time of learning, but it really paved the path for me to grow the next 2 weeks. I have a stronger idea of the kind of media that I want to make and the tools I have to help me grow. Zines and infographics were two things that stood out to me in my communication class as ways to send a message to a larger audience and the art of Nelly Mae Rowe inspired me to delve in even further into the world of mixed media. I’m so excited to see what the rest of the program holds!
Communicating Change 