Collage Project

"I Don't Like This America"

With the death of George Floyd and the civil unrest sweeping the US, as well COVID-19 changing our world as we know it, I wanted to center my collage around some of the images and opinions I have seen in the online and in the media. I feel right now, that there are so many different arguments that I wanted to pose in my collage; a man was killed by police for no reason, COVID is deadly, if we wear masks we can stop the spread, masks are a symbol of weakness and mind control, we can protest for peace, if you protest you will be shot by bystanders, if you loot you are weakening this America, billion-dollar companies can recover from loss, can we change all of this? It feels like there are right and wrong statements in these ideals that are happening in America and I wanted to show the major Juxtaposition. As a student, as a young person, this kind of America is not the US I could have ever dreamt of and I wanted to show my frustrations. I feel that covid is VERY serious, I feel that Mr. Floyd was murder for no reason and now it is time to reevaluate how we train and fund police, I don’t think wearing a mask is even hard or a nuisance, I do believe that silence is violence when it comes to this growing and perpetuated oppression of Black people in America. Guilty people, even “guilty” people like Mr. Floyd might have been, and did not deserve to die at the hands of police. It is a gross misinterpretation of power by a group that is paid to protect- not murder. With my collage I wanted to show what is happening right now, I want to show how utterly stupid some Americans are, and I WANT CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. Sorry for the tangent. 

For my strategy I first went out to google to find some of the images I see that have scathed my memory, and how I can find images that directly oppose that very image. I then compiled images and went through each image in photoshop  and changed the images, so took out the background or changed the color scale. I wanted a bit of color, but to still uphold the image. I then took the time to arrange how I saw fit. I knew Mr. Floyd had to be the largest and forefront image. I did this in respect and solidarity. I then went about arranging. It took me a bit to find the right way the image moved throughout. I was influenced the most by Hannah Höch as well as Richard Hamilton. Overall I felt this exhibited how I feel and I hope it inspires others to show their frustrations as well.