We Decide

This is the last Action Project for our humanities class, Rhetoric. Though this unit was short, we were still able to focus on the main point, which was to "unite". The purpose of the unit was to learn how art can bring people together, while also using rhetorical techniques in its message. We had an online FE and to prep for it, we watched a series of videos from a channel called, "A Complete Waste of Your Time & Money". Their medium of art is comedy, and in their videos, they use comedy to spread positivity, specifically around voting for Joe Biden. During the online FE, the creators of the videos, Linda and Tony, talked to us about their process for making the videos and their inspiration, along with answering our questions. After that FE, we were given the challenge to create our own art piece centered on an important current issue of our choice. We were supposed to go about this project as if we were submitting it for a high school contest. Below you will see my art piece along with my artist statement. Enjoy!

MEM. WE Decide Art piece. 2020

I am a high school Junior at GCE Lab School and the topic I chose for my art piece was Climate Change. I chose this because it is an important issue that concerns everybody that lives on Earth, and because of this, I figured it would reach a wider audience. My artwork's message is, "WE Decide," and this is basically saying that we, the human inhabitants of Earth, decide what happens to our home. The emotions I was trying to evoke from this piece were empathy, sadness, and some inspiration to do better. I made the choice of showing the environment and animals struggling, while humans try and hold the earth together, mainly because we are the main contributor to Earth's deterioration. I am hoping that seeing the animals dying, the ice melting, the deforestation, and extreme weather, among other major things happening, inspires people to care about and be conscious of their actions. Three important facts that I included in my piece were that 80% of the icebergs have melted since 1912, 17% out of the 25% of the Rainforest that is "able" to be deforested, has been destroyed, and that the current Global temperature is 1.16 degrees Celcius. These were important to include because each of them represents a significant issue that we are being faced with. The first being, the icebergs melting because this means there will be higher water levels, and ancient diseases that are trapped inside the ice, could potentially be unleashed. The second statistic is that if the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest reaches 25%, it will cause the whole forest to deteriorate (17% of the forest has already been destroyed). The last fact is that the Global temperature is 1.16 degrees, and if it rises even 1 degree more, the future of our entire earth will be essentially non-existent. 

I chose to draw this piece using colored pencils and used generic printer paper because that was the only thing I had around my house. I also thought it made it more personal to draw something with unsophisticated materials. The main rhetorical appeal I used in my artwork was pathos, expressed in the messages from the animals, from the people trying to keep the earth together, and how each environmental situation is presented. I also used logos by including the statistics in the artwork. I also feel that the artwork represents a hyperbole or an extreme exaggeration, mainly because if we don't take care of the earth, of course, it isn't going to split down the middle and we won't need to go into space to hold it together, but it is metaphorical in that way that we can either decide to keep our earth strong and healthy (essentially 'put together'), or let it slowly die. Ideally, I think my artwork would have the greatest impact if it were displayed at a city bus stop. My sense is a huge number of people take the bus every day, and while waiting for the bus, they would be able to take in the message of the piece and inspired into action. 

Citations:

Glick, Daniel. Global Climate Change, Melting Glaciers, 18 Jan. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/big-thaw/.

Irfan, Umair. “Brazil's Amazon Rainforest Destruction Is at Its Highest Rate in More than a Decade.” Vox, Vox, 18 Nov. 2019, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/11/18/20970604/amazon-rainforest-2019-brazil-burning-deforestation-bolsonaro.

Sanchez-Lugo. “Global Climate Report - March 2020.” National Climatic Data Center, www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202003.