In Conversation

In Conversation

Poster and Layout design | Environmental and installation | Interactive Design | Visual Experience | Research and Writing

In Conversation is a project created as a part of my MFA Thesis. This project was inspired by childhood passion of rollerblading, and explores the the cross-sections of connectivity, the parallels between life and design through a conversation between my mother and child.

We connect with people in a multitude of ways. Some happen just in passing, by sharing a space for a short time, some are acquaintances and some deeper, and built through years spent together. But how do we build this connection? I shared a story of my roller skates and realized that those who read it found themselves reminiscing about the roller skates of their own lives. Friends shared their own stories; some had given up playing the piano, singing, crafts, basketball, hockey and a myriad of other things. It was really quite amazing to listen to each of their stories; however, it wasn’t until I shared my poem with my mother that I discovered a new type of connection being built. 

When my mother heard the poem, she reflected on my life and her own, and we engaged in a beautiful conversation about our lives, and our paths. Both paths are different, but are quite tightly knit. During this conversation, I knew that I wanted to create a project centered on our story, in hopes that it would then resonate with other people. After all, everyone has a mother, no matter the depth of their relationship. I wanted people to engage with my work and think about their own relationships with their parents, thus connecting me to them, and extending the conversation outside of the space as well.

Through a series of 4 posters, which would be printed on both sides—eight posters I was able to represent the four stages of our conversation, the change in our relationship, and in a greater sense, to the concepts I had laid out through my thesis writing and research. The front of each poster contained no content, and focused on the imagery and feeling, while the back represented the moment of reflection, with images mirrored but blurred out in order to let the content speak.

Seek, speak, listen and grow became the main callouts for the posters, and were a subtle nod to the people centered process I took to while making the project. Each part of the poster highlighted moments of hardships, successes, vulnerability, empathy and, trust within our relationship, and to me, also the connection I see between life and the making process. Finally, the posters would be hung from the ceiling between two sheets of acrylic, at Starland Yard in Savannah, GA as part of a group thesis exhibition, 2020ver_final_FINAL.indd. The reflective surface of the acrylic allowed viewers to place themselves within the posters.

While the content was personally driven, I the end goal was to form a deeper connection with people, so I wanted viewers to engage with the posters in some way, expanding the conversation past my mother and I. I decided upon making eight postcards, each representing one poster. People could pick the card(s) that they felt resembled their own relationship, and start a conversation with their own family by writing the postcard and dropping it in the box provided to them. I then shipped the postcards out for them.

2020ver2_final_FINAL.indd

Moments from the group exhibition

Process

All of the posters were inkjet printed and mounted between the acrylic before transferring them to the exhibition site for final set up.