9/11/2017 0 Comments jenny lee: human impact9/25/2017 IDENTITY RESEARCH: THE SELF AND UNSELF9/11/2017 THE DISSOLVEWe all begin life, and all roads lead to a final rendezvous; the difference is what we do en route. Paths chosen, actions taken, and a host of decisions made lead ultimately to a unique legacy. It's non-negotiable: Everyone will leave a legacy. The question is not whether we will leave a legacy but what legacy we will leave. Our legacy comprises both ends and means. The means by which we move through our life provide the working platform that supports our goals. Style, courtesy, honesty, respect-these are the qualities that make for an inspiring legacy. The way we live our life has an effect on how each one of us are remembered. Thinking of our legacy is like starting anything new. To break through the legacy blocks, close your eyes and envision the outcome of a successful life--our successful life. What do you see? Who are you with? How do you feel? These were the questions I had in mind. As we age, the clock and calendar force us to make a move. Time does not permit dallying with options. My goals must be clear, responsibilities fulfilled, intentions and actions honorable. You must decide: If not this way, there is no other way. Why am I here? What will I leave behind? But, eventually, we all reach our own philosophical puberty and realize that these questions call for-in fact, demand-answers. To arrive at the point that you think seriously about your legacy, you just first reach a level of reality and commitment that represents an eternity to follow. I have modified my life into a work of art, thinking, 'my legacy is a self-portrait.' The signature of my life's presence. The work was inspired by Oscar Muñoz’s Narcisos (en proceso), allowing me to create We See What We Want, which is a combination of art (printing on water) and science. The paper I used was made of sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose, a non-toxic substance that dissolves quickly in hot or cold water. This paper disappears in water before your very eyes, leaving the letters floating free. It’s the ultimate aqueous word scramble! The paper is about half the thickness of standard office printer paper, but it went through both of our office printers and the copy machine with no tearing or jamming. Granted, I just printed one sheet on the most trustworthy office printer in Wean Hall, one by one. Unfortunately, it had trouble grabbing the thin paper but towards the end, one last sheet of paper printed out fine. I filled a dish tub with a couple inches of room temperature water and dropped the paper in. It floated for a just moment, and then started rapidly dissolving. In a few seconds, it was reduced to a thin, almost transparent, paper-shaped film. For a long period of time, the alphabetical lettering held its shape so to give water a gentle stir, I poked a wooden chopstick in the solution. It started breaking up, dissolving further, and yes, the letters started floating. The letters remained on the surface of the water for a long time. I left them in the dish tub overnight, and they were still happily floating the next morning. The white surface of paper disappears, but the letters remain. This represents multiple meanings as the paper dissolves in water, losing its color, and/or as the letters move in different directions, resulting in deforming a word or a phrase. These are some of the lessons I’ve learned and wanted to express through this work:
As I begin this new part of my life in college, in a total different world and country, I have learned and experienced several new things. It’s not what we have in life but who we have in our life that matters.
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